A Change in Circumstances
by Vangran
Summary: What if Yuno was a boy and Yuki a girl? How would such a small change effect the story? Well, read and you just might find out. Fem!Yuki Male!Yuno
1. Episode 1

A Change in Circumstances

The Future Diary fanfic

Fem!Yuki Male!Yuno

Names: Yukihana Amano

Yuto Gasai

Notes: I have raised the ages of the characters to 16 to make things fit in my head.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mirai Nikki/Future Diary, that honor belongs to Sakae Esuno.

* * *

Episode 1:

It was a day like any other, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Yukihana Amano was typing away on her phone about what was happening around her. It was her way of keeping in touch with the world.

Shaking her head (her mid-back length black hair swishing from the movement), she ignored the idle chatter aimed at her from her classmates. She was wearing the school uniform for girls, which was a blue sailor shirt with a red ribbon at the neck along with a darker blue skirt. The only difference between her uniform and others being her preference to wear a burnt-orange overcoat on top of it and a beanie of the same color atop her head. Yuki made sure to deny every attempt to get her to join events. After all this time, perhaps they'd finally clue in that she wasn't interested in sports.

Standing up, she was making her way out of class when she bumped into someone, mumbling a quiet apology, she continued on her way, all the while unaware of the turmoil she had caused inside that person.

The person she had bumped into was a bizarrely pink-haired young man by the name of Yuto Gasai. He had, unknown to Yuki, been stalking her for quite a while now. In fact, he had even planned his walking into the room to coincide with her leaving just so he could brush her shoulder. So while she was apologizing and walking away, all he could think was, _She touched and spoke to me!_

Now, this is not something a normal person would be thinking, but then again, if any psychologist were to diagnose Yuto, they would label him a psychopath (if they were able to get him to be honest at any rate), so really in the end it isn't all that surprising.

Once Yukihana arrived at her house, she opened the door and said, "I'm home." Of course, she received no reply as her mother was working and, according to the note on the notice board, wouldn't be back until the next evening, and her father had divorced her mom, so he didn't even live there anymore.

As she curled up under her blanket on her bed, she said to herself, "It's not like I don't have friends, they're just... imaginary."

As she said this, the world around shifted, gaining a purple tint. She was still sitting on her bed, while above her was a massive being with a skull-like head with a garish robe with epaulets typing away on a strange machine with keys everywhere doing who knows what.

"Deus," she said simply.

A single eye angled down in her direction, "Yukihana, a moment please. I am amending a final point of causality."

Smiling softly, she lowered the blanket from her head, "Sounds like someone has a lot on their plate."

"Reality benefits from the occasional jolt," he answered mischievously.

"You're not going to spark a war or anything like that, are you?" she asked with amusement.

"You dislike violence?" His eye turned back to her, his mouth opening wider to reveal a row of razor-sharp teeth, "Wheels within wheels, child, just you wait and see."

Deus ex Machina, lord of space and time. That thing we call the universe? That's his baby.

Pulling her phone out, she opened it, typing a note about Deus being up to something before a voice piped up from the other side of the bed, "Again with the diary, how does a kid like you have so much to write about anyway?" The voice belonged to a pixie-like demon the size of a toddler with a forked tail sticking out of her rear who was holding an ear of corn and eating as she moved across the bed to Yuki's side.

"It's not that I have anything to say, I just like jotting down the when and where of things, like the fact your lousing up my bed."

"Then jot this down," the little demon groused as she started spitting corn at Yuki's face, much to her chagrin.

"Wow Murmur, way to be mature."

The now-named Murmur sat up, her white hair in a ponytail swaying slightly behind her, the thing keeping it tied a band with a heart on the side. "Way to keep your entries all random," she mocked as she started eating again.

"That's the whole point. If I organize it then there'd be too much of me in it and it wouldn't be objective anymore."

Blinking at her incredulously, Murmur shook her head, "Okayyy."

"Besides, it's not like I'd have much to say otherwise. My life isn't exactly exiting. My phone is my whole world. Well, that and this place."

Smiling impishly, the mini-demon shuffled over and hugged her, somehow finding a way to rub her face against Yuki's, laughing, the younger Amano pushed her off, "Stop it, you've still got corn on your face!"

They played around for a bit longer before her eyes opened up in the real world, deep blue eyes taking in her room once more.

"Are you lonely?" Deus' voice appearing still despite the scene-change.

"Not really," she answered, although she knew in her heart that wasn't entirely true.

Deus pressed on, despite this answer, "If you had the opportunity to reinvent yourself, what would you do?" His hand stretched out, long nails rising into the air, "Suppose I bestow upon you the ability to foresee the future?" It was a question and not.

Her phone vibrated. Yuki's eyebrows furrowed as she pulled it out, "Who's texting me?"

"Consider it my gift to you."

She looked at the sender, and was slightly surprised to see Deus ex Machina in the box. She smiled softly, "Come on, what are you up to this time?"

"A diversion of sorts," he answered vaguely.

Closing her phone and her eyes gently closing, she replied, "Whatever you say, Deus. I can always pinch myself. And besides, what good would knowing the future do me?"

While Deus was disappearing from her mind's eye, she could have sworn she saw him smirk.

* * *

The next day

When Yuki woke up the following morning, she opened her phone and was shocked to find her allotted page for the day already filled up. Her eyes went over the list, confused as it was written in her style, with the timestamp and short summary of the event.

She was troubled when she saw that it gave her the answers to an unknown quiz later in the day. She hoped it was just some kind of prank, because she didn't want to get expelled for cheating.

Looking over it again, it said at that top that she amazingly got a double-bulls eye. She scoffed while also bearing a worried expression. She was hesitant to try and prove this one right, but what other ways did she have to experiment? So, grabbing a dart from her pack that put on after waking up, she stood up, and, closing her eyes, drew back her arm and launched the dart forward. Cautiously opening one, she was shocked to see it was indeed a bulls-eye.

Both excited and disturbed by this revelation, she grabbed a second dart and repeated, getting a second bulls-eye. She gulped. She looked at her phone to see what came next.

It said 7:05 A.M., so she turned on the news, and sure enough when 7:05 A.M. passed the news was running another segment on the serial killer and how he had a new victim the other night. A shiver went down her spine. Considering all the victims were young women, it was no wonder why she'd be scared.

Noticing that the next event occurs in 40 minutes, she began getting ready for school, going through her morning routine in a daze as she kept wondering about the mystery diary.

As she was walking to school, she looked at her phone, and finally read the entry. Her eyebrows furrowed. Kousaka and Shiraishi?

She looked around her, and sure enough walking just a few feet from her were the aforementioned jocks. _What are they doing here? Aren't they on the track team? Shouldn't they already be at school?_

When 9:30 rolled around, she was definitely paranoid about the mystery diary entry. Especially seeing as everything else was true in the end, then wouldn't that also mean that the answers to the quiz were also right? Well, while she wasn't an airhead she wasn't quite good enough to warrant suddenly getting a perfect score on a test, so she resolved to miss some to lower her score.

And for some reason, during the quiz she was able to have her phone out and wasn't caught by anyone, she wondered if people really didn't notice her enough to care what she did, and she slumped her shoulders in depression.

When the test was over, Kousaka walked over, sitting on top of the desk next to her and resting his right foot on the side of hers. "So hey, did you ace the test or what?"

Shaking her head quickly, she grabbed her things and left the room. She had dealt with him before, she didn't want to hear his harsh words today as well.

The day rolled by. In Home Economics, Yuki remembered that it said Satonaka cut her hand and had to go to the nurse, so, right before it happened, she called over to her to be careful. The result was the knife digging into the wooden board that was covering her part of the counter. Slightly shaken, but uninjured, she was able to carry on with the lesson.

Of course, then they started to blame her for the near-accident, not that she reacted visibly to the harsh words, but her heart ached as once again she was pushed to the side.

After school was let out, she was walking home and was happened upon by a couple detectives. They were investigating the serial murders and she told them she only knew what the news told her. After being reassured that they would catch the killer after she confessed her fear they walked off, the pair asking another pedestrian and her to her home.

Soon enough she was back in Deus' domain. "This is insane." She clutched at her hat desperately. "C-can my phone see the future?" she asked hesitantly.

The deity turned his head to her, eyes softening as he said, "Quite so. I think you'll find prognostication very handy."

"B-but, you aren't real, how this is even possible? I mean you... I thought you up and I just... what's going on?"

Deus raised a hand regally, pointing upward, "Do you believe reality and imaginary to mutually exclusive habitats for an entity of my stature?"

Suddenly she felt a pressure on her shoulder, and turning her gaze to the right revealed Murmur standing on a metal barrel, "He's a god. He lives where he wants."

"And beware the boon of a god." She gasped at the sudden seriousness of Deus' tone. "Yours in particular comes at a price. A diary of this kind and and it's user are as one. " He created a black thing in the shape of a phone with red lettering floating around it, she thinks she saw 'dead' among them, in his hand, "Should the phone fall to ruin, so too will the march of days it's served as a privileged window upon. Your life will be forfeit."

Later on, she was lying on her bed with her arm over her eyes, wondering what she would do next. She didn't want die, especially not this young, but with how serious her once-thought figment of imagination was she couldn't help but be worried. Sure, knowing how her future days would go was great, but what if someone decided she knew too much? History was riddled with cases of people who claimed foreknowledge getting burned alive as witches, especially in America.

"A future diary, huh?"

* * *

The following day at school, she kept her head down as she walked down the halls to class. The grades from the impromptu test were posted and she had ranked 2nd. She gulped. She thought she had missed enough to get 3rd at best, not 2nd! And now everywhere she went people were talking openly about her supposedly-swollen head for getting such a good score. This was not good. She might want to stand out, but not like this. This would only cause her to be more isolated ,and her heart clenched at the thought.

When she was walking to another class, she took a different than usual path after reading her diary and discovering an ambush was waiting for her on her normal one. She didn't know what they had planned for her, but she had a good idea why, and while she might feel bad about abusing the diary normally, this was a special case as she had no inclination to be pummeled today, thank you very much!

Math class rolled around again, and there was another quiz, and as before there was another list of answers waiting for her on her phone. And also like before she purposefully missed answers to lower her score. Sure she liked getting good grades, but if she was going to get beaten up for it than it wasn't worth it.

As she was writing down the answers to some questions, she felt a chill go down her spine, and looked up to see Yuto Gasai staring at her. She gulped. That look in his eyes, it was like he knew what she was doing. She shook her head. That was ridiculous, after all, how likely was it that Deus gave other people a future diary too? She paused at the thought, her face going pale as it occurred to her that that would be just the kind of thing he _would_ do.

She cautiously peeked over at Gasai again only to find he had turned back to his paper. Was that all her imagination? Anxiety over nearly beating his score? She nodded her head, yes that was it. Anxiety. After all, why would someone like him care about someone like her? She wasn't exactly special after all.

The teacher walked over to Yuto's desk, "Excuse me Mr Gasai but we are in the middle of a test."

Apparently he was doing something with his hands, "I can do two things at once, it helps keep my brain occupied."

Hiyama sighed, "Alright, but try not to distract your classmates."

Yuto Gasai. Straight A student. Handsome. Has the whole school at his feet regardless of his strangely pink-colored hair. There's no way he'd care about little ol' me. It must've been my imagination after all.

After class and subsequently school ended for the day, everyone else had left except for Yuki. But as she was walking down the rows toward the door, she was stopped in her tracks by a clay figure of Murmur.

At that moment her phone made a crackling noise. Gulping, she opened it to find a new entry, and it shocked her to her core. "Murdered? Dead end?" She started shaking. She remembered Deus talking about a price. Was this part of it?

"What happened to the future?"

Then a voice sounded from the rear door to the classroom, "Your future, don't get them confused."

She turned to face the person and was surprised to see Yuto Gasai walking into the room.

He walked in further before turning to face her fully with a smile, "Hey there, Amano."

Yuki's eyes widen, _He knows my name? But why?_

Yuto continued as if unaware of her inner turmoil, "You got a dead end, right?"

"H-how did you know that? Are you intercepting my texts?"

Yuto started walking toward her, "I saw it coming a mile away."

Yuki backed up with each step Yuto took. Eventually she was close enough to the door to make a run for it. Sure, she might have a crush on him, but that didn't change the fact that the situation she was in scared the hell out of all, who wants to be told they're going to die in an a matter of hours?

Soon enough she was on the streets, making her way through the crowded sidewalks in an attempt to get away from Yuto. It would't surprise her at this point if HE was the serial killer. How else could he have known about her phone? Was that how the other victims were killed too? Yuto stalking them, watching from the shadows until there was no one around to act as a witness and then kill them?

Her phone crackled again, showing a different time of death this time, but then Gasai appeared in front of her, "Will you just hear me out?"

Yuki was too high on adrenaline to listen though, "Just st-stop it! Leave me alone!"

Yuto frowned, but appeared to make no move to follow as she turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

With the way things were progressing, Yuki was pretty sure Yuto also had a future diary, and if that was the case...

She came upon a building still under construction and ran inside the unfinished lobby. Thankfully the elevator was set up so she ran inside and jammed the button to go to the 14th floor. She sighed as the door began to close. But right before it could go all the way, it stopped, and she looked over in fear as she saw a hand holding it open, and eventually it was pushed open as Yuto Gasai came into the elevator, the doors closing behind him.

"This-this isn't real."

"I'm afraid it is, Yuki."

Petrified by fear, she was unable to react as he kept coming closer, and stopped a couple feet away, before drawing out a small device and holding it up before him. It was a phone.

"So I was right, you do have one."

As the words left my mouth, I thought, Is he going to kill me too? Wait, I-I still have my darts.

As she was reaching toward her pouch, a voice stopped her, "Don't." And then Yuto surged forward, pushing her against the wall and kissing her hard. As he pulled away, he said, "We both know you're not going to hurt me." He smiled at her, stroking her cheek gently, "My diary says so. Tends not to be wrong."

"Your... diary?"

Yuto blushed, stepping back a bit as he said, "Besides, it's not what you think, you don't have any reason to hurt me."

Suddenly his eyes narrowed, as he looked at the ground outside, "He's here." He said darkly.

"Wh-who's here?"

"The local serial killer. Known to the other diary users as Third. A bad apple."

"Third?"

"He was slated to take you out of the running today with a machete. Good thing I've got the inside track." Gasai flipped his phone open and showed Yuki the screen, "This baby's specialty is keeping tabs on you. 6:20 P.M., you're scheduled to die on the 14th floor."

"But... I mean... You... All those entries are about stuff that I would you...?"

Yuto closed his phone and his eyes in the same movement, bring the phone closer to his chest, "Well it wouldn't be much use to me if it couldn't keep up. I get the relevant details on your future in 10-minute intervals. The diary of future love."

Yuki squirmed under Yuto's passionate gaze after he said this. Not only had he stolen her first kiss, but now he was saying he l-lo... lov... loved her? This was insane!

He held his phone to his lips, "In a way, your future kind of belongs to both of us," he said as he moved his left hand toward the floor buttons, pressing the one for the 17th calmly as he continued to gaze happily at Yuki.

But at that moment her fear kicked in and she said, "That's it, I want out!" Of course, she immediately retreated to the back of the elevator again when Yuto pressed up against her, holding his phone close to her face screen up.

"Silly. Don't be paranoid, I'm trying to help. You'll be the first person eliminated from the survival game if you get off here. See, it says you'll die on the 14th floor."

"But, what does it mean? What's going on!?"

"All future diary users are in a last-man standing kind of thing. He's coming for you."

She shook her head, trying to deny what she was coming to realize to be reality.

"If you want my advice, don't make your entries so topical, makes it too easy to track you. But don't worry, I'll protect you. I'll be your knight in shining armor."

Now, while this was something many girls want to hear from their crush, the current situation kind of smothered any sweet feelings that might have appeared.

They exited the elevator and went up the remaining steps to a door that opened up on the roof. Suddenly, she felt more vulnerable than she had been in the elevator. "So what now? We have nowhere to go, and it's not like I have any way to stop a serial killer!"

"You know the saying, "you can run but you can't hide"? Well, it kind of fits this situation to a T." He stretched, eliciting a blush from Yuki as his shirt rose up revealing a small portion of his chest for a brief moment. "At least up here we can catch the sunset."

Still distracted by the image of his chest, she was unprepared when Yuto appeared in front of her and held her softly. Her face turned red as he held a hand on the back of her head to push it toward his shoulder. "This is an ideal place to catch him. And you already have the tools necessary to take him down."

Confused, she felt her blush stretch down her neck as his right hand traveled down her side before stopping at her hip. With a small release, she was surprised when he pulled a dart from her pouch.

"My darts?"

Handing it to her and stepping away, he said, "That dart's going to make or break your future. Hope you're feeling lucky today."

With that he told her to hide in a small space near the edge of the roof that hadn't been filled in yet, her small form making it easier to hide as she clutched the dart to her chest while keeping a close eye on her phone as she had activated it's camera function. It was different from other phones as it caught images the side facing the screen.

Suddenly she heard the door to the roof open with a creak. Footsteps edged closer before stopping, the door slamming shut in the wind behind him.

"Where are they?" He asked himself. Yuki gasped softly before covering her mouth. She knew that voice! "Hide and seek, is it?"

She hoped he took out his phone soon.

Lying beside some beams was Yuto's phone. According to Yuto (and what she remembered of her conversation with Deus) if a diary-user's phone was destroyed, they die too, so it was in equal parts their greatest weapon and greatest weakness.

"Damn it, where the hell are they?" He reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone, presumably to look at his diary when Yuto made his move. Coming out from behind the stairs, he ran at their would-be killer who in shock brought his phone up to his face, perhaps to protect himself, which made it even easier for Yuki who stood up from her hiding place and launched her dart at the phone in Hiyama's hand. It hit it dead on, and the eyes behind the mask widened in horror as he realized what was about to happen.

He staggered backwards, gargling. He dropped his machete as a hole appeared in his chest. Soon after his body began to deform, His arms twisted unnaturally and soon his body began to twist, cracking noises filling the air as his bones bent and broke, his cries of agony ringing in Yuki's ears as she watched it happen.

His body kept on twisting, and it wasn't long before she realized he was getting sucked into the whole in his chest. Not long after the rest of him disappeared into the hole, and all that remained of their math teacher was his machete and his broken phone.

It took a moment for Yuki's head to realize it was over, but then it processed that she just basically killed a person, and a second later she was retching on the rooftop. As she was bent over, she felt a calming hand on her back, rubbing back and forth until she finished. When it stopped coming up, she was assisted to her feet and a strong arm secured itself around her waist.

"So, what do you say we grab a bite to eat? Your mom is out tonight, right?"

Resisting the urge to gulp, she nodded slightly, although she did wonder if she had it in her to hold anything down.

"And don't worry, you will be able to eat just fine."

Eyes widening, she looked up at him questioningly. He smiled, eyes manically wide as he looked at her, "Remember, my diary tells me what is going to happen to you every ten minutes, is it so surprising I'd know that?"

Deciding that she wasn't going to get anything out of this, she sighed and let him let her back to the elevator and outside to a local burger joint.

While Yuto was at the counter getting food, Yuki retreated to Deus' realm. "Wh-what's going on? You never said anything about me being involved in some... some murder game!"

"Relax, I have not been duplicitous. I told you this was merely a diversion. What's more, girl, is that you stand as its first victor."

Murmur floated behind her on a strange platform, smiling strangely at the poor girl.

It was then that the scenery changed once more. Color overtook her vision as she found herself standing on a metal circle which was connected to a circle on each side by a strip of gray all the way around to make an even large one. Strangely she found herself bereft of her jacket, her black shirt visible as she twisted and turned, her lime-green scarf flapping around as she moved. Each circle had an occupant save one, making for 10 other people than her, Deus and Murmur.

Then a voice to her side drew her attention, "Congratulations, First." Because all the other people were covered in darkness, all she could tell was that it was male.

"Yeah, nice work girlie. Takes some real guts to take out a practiced man-hunter."

Yuki gulped. If she was right, then these were the other Diary users. But then, if that was true... She turned her gaze to the right, and felt some relief at seeing Yuto. Even with the dark covering, his eyes were still visible, and she drew some strength from having someone nearby that hadn't been messing with her lately.

It was then that Deus stood up. "Now that you have all congregated under the auspices of my survival game, permit me to extrapolate on its rules and purpose. Let us first consider the diaries in your possession, known rather quaintly as Future Diaries."

Everyone took out their phones to look at them.

"Having begun as ordinary linear journals, their relationship to time has been distorted to afford you a window into the future, up to ninety days."

"If I may interject," another voice called out.

Deus didn't seem to mind, "Speak your mind, Tenth."

The form known as Tenth raised what she presumed to be his arm. "Given your explanation I'm curious as to how it is I've witnessed my own diary rewrite itself on multiple occasions."

"The future is subject to change in response to a user's actions." He raised a hand, and an arrow appeared above it, pointed in the direction of the hand, and as he spoke, the image of a person began to move along it, "Consider for example you gain foreknowledge of an imminent catastrophe is about to befall you down the road. When the appointed hour of the catastrophe arrives, the foreknowledge allows you to take steps to avoid it, thus curtailing one future and inaugurating another. In other words, the timeline in which the catastrophe was part has been left. A new future begins; your diary alters to reflect the change." The arrow changed direction as he said this, turning to go around the event and then continue forward.

Yuki hesitantly raised a hand, "Um, I have a question too."

When silence stretched, Deus chuckled before waving his hand, "By all means, First, ask."

She steeled her nerves, "My diary has rewritten itself several times without me doing anything. I mean, I didn't even know about the survival game until today."

"None of you is the sole determinant of your own future, hence these proceedings that render this a test of survival. Once there is confirmation that one user is poised to kill another," As he spoke the image of the reaper appeared to his right, the giant scythe doing nothing for her courage, "A death sentence will be entered and the words 'Dead End' sent to your diary as a warning."

A young voice rose up, "How are we supposed to know who to kill if we don't know who each other are?"

"The identities of your fellow competitors can be deduced from your diaries." Yuki blinked. Was it really that simple?

The child spoke up again, "So the first thing we do is figure out who everyone is and then take it from there?"

"Precisely. Unveiling your opponents will severely compromise their position. Whosoever receives a Dead End warning must marshal all their resources to undo it." His eyes turned to Yuki, and she could swear he looked at her fondly before looking back towards the others."Thus, discretion is invaluable."

Suddenly he loomed in front of her, "You, First. Your death at the hands of Third was written in stone." He disappeared abruptly, reappearing standing before his throne, "But miracle of miracles, you managed to survive, and reduced the death sentence to mere scribbles in the sand."

He sat back down, "Should we owe this to more cunning than luck; you may well be my champion. In any event, your beginnings bode propitiously."

She shook, _But it wasn't me!_ She wanted to scream, _I'm not smart enough or strong enough to do it on my own._ Her eyes instinctively shifted back to Yuto, who smiled at her kindly.

"Lo!" Her shifted again, "He who weathers the vicious onslaught shall win a throne incomparable. Indeed, he will succeed me. Bearing the mantle of space-time as its reborn god! Look around you, eleven only remain. Therefore, consign mercy to the outlands of your warriors heart and vie for control of the universe!"

"First things first, you might say." Yuki's head turned so fast her neck ached as she looked upon a misshapen shadow with a large head. It appeared to be disappearing if the static around its form was any indication.

"Well put," the cultured voice of the man next to it said as he too disappeared shortly after the other.

"A pleasant day to you, o' favored one." Tenth said as he bowed before disappearing.

The one next to him spoke up next as she began to vanish as well, "You better stay alive long enough for me to kill you, brat."

"Bye-bye First. Best of luck to you." the next one said before disappearing into static.

"B-but I...!" but she was interrupted before she could finish.

"Fear leaves an aura about you, "A mysterious woman's voice said before disappearing.

"Sounds like this game should be interesting," the one after her said, presumably combing his hair as he left the stage, "Hunting a kid with your skills."

"But-but it wasn't me!"

"Easy kid," a calm voice spoke up near her, drawing her gaze to the figure of a tall man. "I'm going to be watching over you."

"You poor little monkey."

"Pl-please I...!"

But Deus cut her off, "I declare this meeting adjourned." And with that he, Murmur, and the brightly lit stage faded away, leaving Yuki in the purple realm that she once assumed imaginary.

She collapsed to her knees, wrapping her arms around her chest tightly in an attempt to comfort herself, "This is crazy! There's nothing else I can call it."

"Don't worry Yuki," a voice called out from behind her. Yukihana's head turned to face it, eyes widening at the manic look in Yuto's eyes as he spoke, "It'll be okay. Yuto's here to protect you. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Cause that's how much I love you."

* * *

Thanks for reading! Tell me what you think, I have 18 more chapters done and I hope to finish this story by the time the 19th one is posted.

As I'm sure many of you are upset about, I have started working on different stories than ones I've already put out there, but when I was watching the show and reading a random fic of the same genre, this one just took a life of its own. It does take a more drastic divergence from the anime as it goes on.


	2. Episode 2

A/N: And here we are for chapter 2! As a warning from here on out, the chapters _will_ vary in length, so don't expect them all to be as long as this one.

On another note I intend to update once a week on Friday.

Now on with the chapter.

* * *

Episode 2:

Yuki's phone lit up, the time in the small window showing it to be 23:40, or 11:40 p.m.

She backed away from it, "This is insane! That has to be the fortieth text I've gotten today! And I still don't remember giving him my number!"

She shivered again, the open window letting in a breeze, so she grabbed a blanket to cover herself up even though she knew it wasn't the air that caused it.

He kept asking if she was still awake, and while she normally would be, the frequent texts were keeping her up. She was tempted to just turn the damn thing off, but she didn't know how it'd affect the future diary,

Then she got another one that read,

~ Hey Sweetie :) ~

She gulped; this was getting out of hand. _What does he even see in me, anyways? I'm not pretty or smart like all the girls that swarm around him every day. I'm just Yuki. Plain, boring Yuki._

* * *

The next day in class, a substitute teacher was at the front, explaining that Mr. Hiyama wasn't going to be back for the foreseeable future, and so he would be teaching until he could come back.

Meanwhile, Yuki was lost in her thoughts, worrying about what was going to happen as she still had no real idea what was going on. Sure she knew about the death game but it's not like she was itching to kill anyone!

She looked up while the substitute kept talking, her eyes focusing on Yuto who was sitting attentively at the front acting as if nothing happened.

When class ended, she walked over to his desk as he was putting his books away and asked, "Um, would it be okay if we talked? I have something I'd like to..."

Yuto shook his head, "Sorry, but I'll be late for P.E., we'll have to talk later. Think you can wait until then?"

Nodding forlornly as he grabbed his bag and walked out, she stood there wondering what she was supposed to do now.

Moments after Yuto left, a woman in a strange purple dress knocked on the door, her equally strange purple hair done up in pigtails with a frilly pink band resting between them. It stirred up a memory of one of the shadowy diary users, but she shook her head, one of them couldn't be here now, right?

"Sorry, can you maybe help me? I'm looking for the faculty lounge, any idea if I'm getting warmer? I figure somebody there should have some answers about Hiyama." Yuki blinked, someone was looking for him? "The guy's your homeroom teacher, right? Hey... did you know he was also happened to be a killer?" she said this so flippantly that it was like she was talking about the weather, and it made Yuki's blood run cold. She thought for sure she'd heard that voice before, and if the person reminded her of a diary user... Her eyes widened.

The woman walked into the room, coming closer to her as she continued speaking, "Word around here is that your grades are up, although not too dramatic. The other students also seem to feel you've been acting kinda uppity lately." Yuki cocked her head to the side. Had she been acting uppity? If anything she thought for sure she'd become more introverted.

"Don't you think Hiyama's absence is a little on the suspicious side? I mean after all," she got so close that Yuki took a step back, fear etching its way onto her face as she realized where she was going, "The killer died yesterday." She gasped, "His murder diary didn't help much at the moment of truth. He was in the process of hunting down first when he got upstaged. In case you're not following me, the guy shaping your mind was Third."

Yuki blanched as she backed into a desk, the legs screeching from sliding across the classroom floor. She brought her hands to her mouth as her thoughts on his voice from the other day rang in her head. She had killed her math teacher!

She could barely move before the purple-head was before her, grabbing the hand holding the phone and brought it up to her eyes, "Sweet phone you got there. I was dead on." Her voice took on a manic tinge as Yuki stared at the woman in terror, "You're First, aren't you? Pleased to make your acquaintance!"

But before she could do anything Yuto ran into the room in his P.E. uniform swinging a fire extinguisher, "No! Get away from her!"

At that moment Yuki's phone crackled, and as she looked at it she paled as she saw the words Dead End at the bottom of the screen.

The woman jumped back toward the window, "The name's Uryuu Minene, kidos. Otherwise known as Ninth. And if Third was the appetizer I'm the main course!" As she leapt out the window, she shouted, "Au revoir!"

Yuto cursed before grabbing Yuki and dragging her from the room, an explosion rocking the building as they ran, smoke billowing out from the room as a series of explosions occurred in nearby classrooms, killing dozens of students.

Yuto was resting against the wall with Yuki on his lap, his arms around her as she shivered in shock.

"Don't worry," he said as he stroked her hair, "We're gonna survive this. She's not gonna get you, cause I'm going to get her first."

She leaned into his embrace, trying to draw on the confidence seeping out of Yuto's words as he tightened his hold on her.

Now normally she'd be freaking out about the blase manner in which Yuto was speaking of killing another person, but right now she was a little more worried about keeping her sanity so she just let it slide.

"I've got your back, that's what I do."

"So you keep telling me." She looked away sheepishly. _I need someone to. Not that anyone's cared before_. "Y-Yuto, I-I need you to get me through this."

He loosened his grip held her chin, forcing her to look at him, "Hey, for you sweetheart. Anything."

Of course then he kissed her again making her brain a jumbled mess.

Outside the bomber seemed to be getting impatient as she started speaking into a microphone, probably from a storage room, "Listen up you grub-pawed snot-nosed little tadpoles. This Soviet bloc eyesore they keep you locked up in until your hormones burn out? It's been rigged. We're talking demolitions-grade explosives decked out in motion sensors. So unless you want to blow up, stay where you are."

Her voice took an even more violent tone, if that was even possible, "That's right boys and girls, the whole student body is now my hostage!" She screamed out the last words, earning screams of terror from the students that could be heard even from where Yuki and Yuto were crouching under the windows trying to get out of the building safely.

Yuki stopped briefly to check her phone, but blushed again when Yuto turned back to look at her questioningly. He smiled smugly at the reaction.

She looked away, "We better keep moving, huh?"

Yuto knelt under a nearby window, holding up a broken piece of glass to see what was going on outside. "Looks like everyone is holed up in the other building. They know she's serious."

Soon enough they were at the staircase, they stopped as she checked her phone, "Crap! The stairs are going to blow up underneath us!"

Yuto's eyes turn hard, "Then we find another route. No need to make this complicated."

As they went back down the hall, her phone crackled, she hurriedly checked it, "It changed again..."

"Well yeah, we didn't do what it said, so the future changed. This is why your diary in particular is so useful, you jot down everything. It's called the indiscriminate diary because you basically keep a record of whatever you see."

"And that means..."

"It means what we should be doing now is monitoring Ninth's activity with it."

Her phone buzzed again, Yuki looked at it fearfully, thinking of the time with Hiyama, "Not again..."

"She's making a play. Our movements are interlocked now. If her future changes so does ours."

The new future appeared on her phone, and her eyes widened as she looked up at the sign in front of the classroom, "We need to move! 2-C is gonna blow!"

Yuto realized the same thing as he dived at her, "Look out!"

The room exploded just as they got out of the way.

As smoke billowed past them, Yuto got up on her hands and said, "Quick! Read the next entry!"

"Looks like it says..." She tried to focus on the small screen, "There's another explosion down the hall."

Yuto's eyes widened slightly before getting up and bringing her up with him as they raced to the stairs, only making it a few steps up before the hallway exploded. She nearly stopped but Yuto tugged at her to keep moving.

More areas exploded as they ran down the hallway, the windows looking out upon the city instead of the school courtyard. Her mind was suitably blank as she kept running behind him, trusting him to get her to safety.

Just then the room they just passed exploded. Gasai turned to look at her, his eyes hard, "Read the next entry."

They evaded death several more times before they came to a part of the building that Uryuu had already bombed, and climbed down to the next floor, the destroyed section acting as a suitable platform to jump down on.

"What does the next entry say?"

Before she could read it the area immediately behind her erupted, sending her shooting forward onto the ground. Yuto moved at lightning speed to her side, "Oh no! Are you alright?"

"I-I think so," she said as she slowly got onto her knees.

"New tactic, if at all possible, focus on how it says you reacted to the explosions."

She shook her head, "My diary doesn't work that way."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't write about my reactions. That's the whole point. I keep a record of what's going on without including myself. I don't get involved," Yuki looked up at Yuto forlornly, "My diary doesn't have anything in it about what actually happens to me."

Just then Yuto's diary buzzed, and narrowed eyes, began pulling her from the room as more explosions rocked the building.

Once again she was lying on the ground, with Yuto covering her body from any falling debris, although this time they were in a stairwell.

"No sweat," he said as he slowly got off of her, "So your diary isn't much for pertinent details about what happens to you. You might say mine picks up the slack there. I'm good at keeping an eye on my honey bear." He held up his phone to provide example, and she nodded in agreement.

"Okay." She paused for a moment, taking it all in, before she got up off the ground and wrapped her arms around her stalwart protector, earning a blink that quickly became a smile as he wrapped his own arms around her in kind.

"I'm pathetic."

"What is it now?"

"How pathetic am I,

"Please don't leave me," she said suddenly, earning a blink out of her protector, "I-I know I seem like I like being alone, but the truth is I've always wanted friends, but nothing I do ever seems to work. I kept to a strict policy of not getting involved, but I'd do anything to not be so cordoned off. But I kept everyone at arms length because deep down I was too scared of being hurt." Yuki was sobbing at this point, burying her head in Yuto's gym shirt. "I don't want to be alone!"

Smiling, Yuto drew her closer, raising her chin as he looked her in the eye, "Don't worry, Yuki, I'll never leave you." This earned him a watery smile which turned to shock as he he leaned down and kissed her on the lips possessively, "You're mine, and I never give up what belongs to me."

He stood up, drawing her with him as he rose, "Now stop talking like your life's over, silly. You've got at least an hour and a half before your Dead End becomes a reality." He put his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes, "I say we ditch the mope-fest and get ourselves to the other building. I mean, think about it, they're all your friends, right? They're bound to help us."

Yukihana shook her head, looking to the side, "You might not know this, not having been in the same as me every year but..." she closed her eyes, tears flowing freely, "They've never liked me. I've always been the odd one out, and when my parents divorced it only got worse. When they look at me now, all they talk about is how much of a loser I am and that I caused my parents to split up." She sniffed, "And they're right, not only am I pathetic my dad left because of me."

Yuto shook his head, "Come on, you know that isn't true."

But Yuki smiled sadly at him, "Of course it is, he told me so himself right before he walked out the door."

Eyes narrowing, the pink-haired Diary User pulled her close to him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. She squeaked at the sudden movement, and it took all he had not to coo at her, "It'll be alright, Yuki, I promise. I can't do anything about your scumbag father ( _Right now, anyways,_ he thought to himself) but I'm sure if you really tried opening up that you'd find at least one true friend over there. So come on, trust me on this. I haven't steered you wrong yet, have I?"

She shook her head, her hair waving behind she moved. Nodding firmly, they began to make their way to where the other students are, dodging explosions as they go.

As they slowly make their way down a hallway, crouching below the windows, Yuki checked her phone,, all the while wondering if Yuto was right about her classmates. She wanted to give them the a chance, but they had hurt her so many times already that she wasn't sure if they deserved it.

Eventually the made it to the part of the school where her classmates were being held, and stopped at the corner. She peeked her head around the corner before jerking back, shaking her head quickly.

Yuto saw the action, and looked at her curiously, "What is it? What's wrong? Is it Ninth?"

Shaking, she whispered, "No, it's Kousaka, a classmate of mine."

Second cocked his head to the side, "If he's your classmate then why are you so afraid?"

"Out of all my classmates, he's always been one of my biggest tormentors. No matter what I did, it was never enough. Now, he just asks me to do things with him as a joke."

"You don't know that," Yuto tried to reason.

She shook her head, "I do. The one time I agreed to join in, he laughed and said, 'Just kidding!' I swore never to talk to him again after that."

Yuto's eyes darkened, but before he could respond their classmates were before them, smiling grimly. They didn't even have a chance to react before they grabbed Yuki. Yuto was being held back by two of Kousaka's track buddies as they dragged her screaming to the courtyard while Yuto could only look on, his eyes taking on a cold fury.

"Yuto!"

Each of her arms were held in a student's arm as they dragged her before the terrorist then they pushed her to the ground, pinning her as tears streamed down her face. Her phone was handed over to the ninth Diary User and placed on a pack of explosives.

Then Uryuu spoke into the megaphone again, "That'll do, everyone, much obliged. Motion sensors are back online by the way so get comfy."

Before anything further could happen explosions rocked the school where the rest of Yuki's classmates were stuck blew up, startling Uryuu Minene enough that she didn't blow up Yuki's phone right then.

She was cowering by a pillar in front of a door wondering when it'd all end, and, for all that she wasn't fond of them, hoping she still had some classmates left when this was over. She also hoped Yuto was alright, as when she'd last looked her classmates were holding him by the window, forcing him to watch as they dragged her outside.

But then her head shot up as she remembered the time her phone gave her for her Dead End, and quickly checked it. It read 13:54.

Uryuu spoke again, a maniacal tinge to her words, "You haven't lived until you've seen what I can do with plastique." Just then a shot rang out, zipping along the side of her face and cutting through one of her pigtails. Ninth froze as she caught sight of someone walking toward her.

"You're at an 11; I need you at a 4. Due courtesy when you're on my turf." Yuki looked up at the man next to her cautiously, his blue suit cutting an imposing image as well as the small tail at the back of his head, his rugged features only accented by the queer smile on his face. Of course, her attention soon tunneled as she zoned in on the gun in his hand.

"How's it hanging, First? The name's Kurusu." the man asked calmly.

She almost asked if they knew each other, but then she remembered she had heard his voice at the meeting with the other Diary Users.

Yukihana shook her head in lieu of speaking. He nodded understandingly.

"Stop wasting my time, Fourth," Ninth sounded almost cheerful there.

"Stop wasting mine," he shot back quickly, "We both know what you're here for."

Minene scoffed lightly.

Yuki tried to wrap her head around it, but then the man spoke again, "Don't worry about it too much, all you need to know is that she's not here for you. It's me she wants." As he was speaking he pulled out his phone, which ironically was purple. It showed several entries with each factually oriented, and all seeming to be related to Mr. Hiyama.

"Say hello to the Case Diary. It lets me know how jobs I'm on will pan out. Being a god doesn't do it for me." He said as he put away his phone, his smile becoming demented as he stared at Uryuu, "My cup of tea is bringing homicidal maniacs to justice."

"Excuse me," Minene apparently felt like she was being ignored,"Not to break up your little pow-wow over there, but I'd kinda like to start laying out a few demands." When no one spoke, she continued, "I'll just take your silence as a green light. So..." Her smile grew wider as she exposed her teeth, her eyes stretched wide as she yelled into the speaker, "Blow the little bitches brains out then do yourself! It's bad enough I have to wrangle with a whiny teenager, I'm not about to leave a sooth saying homicide cop on the loose!"

"No dice, Ninth." Fourth raised his other hand to his gun, steadying the barrel as he aimed at Uryuu.

"Fine!" She raised her hand with the detonator into the air, "Then everyone can go to hell!"

He abruptly lowered his gun and smiled at Yuki, who looked away while closing her eyes, "Just make it quick, please," she whispered. She knew who he would pick in the end.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry it had to end like this," he grimaced as he raised the barrel to her temple.

Before he could fire though a scuffle could be heard ensuing near Minene, and they both looked over to see Yuto swinging fists and feet at her, although the terrorist was apparently quite nimble as she evaded every attack attempt, eventually dodging a lunge that sent Yuto rolling over the ground.

Kurusu brought his gun back to his side, "Don't just sit there, get your diary. If you really want your life to mean something, get get off the ground and make do something. Prove you're a force to be reckoned with. Maybe even help your little friend?" She whimpered slightly, "Turn that fear to advantage, Dress it up as a game face." She sniffled before nodding swiftly, earning a look of pride as she got to her feet and started running toward Minene and her phone.

Uryuu smirked, "This kid's an idiot! Did she forget I set up a mine field?" But then she realized that the black-haired girl was dodging the mines with ease, and it was then that she heard a voice to her side.

"Left! Now veer to the right!" With each direction Yuki moved, quickly making her way across the minefield.

"Seriously?" Ninth had to give the guy props for still being able to move, but come on! Did he have to ruin her plans?

All too soon Yuki was able to reach down and snatch up her phone, continuing to run after doing so.

It was then apparently that something occurred to Minene."That little tramp's a Diary user!" She jetted across the field, her tech giving her a boost. But a gunshot forced her to grind to a halt as she threw her arms into the air in an attempt to protect herself.

"Enough playing cowboy, Fourth!"

It was moments later that Uryuu made it to where Yuto was crouching and shouting out directions and gave a kick at the boy, but he had been watching and skillfully dodged, a playful smirk on his face. "Gonna have to do better than that."

Yuki continued to run, but without constant directing found herself panicking. Uryuu started to say something before a hail of school supplies bombarded her, forcing her to abandon her plans temporarily as she tried to shield her face from the barrage.

"Yuki!" Come on, Yuki!" "You can do it, Yuki!"

Dozens of voices cried out as those who had previously been standing by suddenly took action, urging her onward.

"Little turds!" Uryuu growled, setting off a mine right behind Yuki but her eyes widened as the explosion only seemed to propel her forward faster.

Yuki yelled loudly as she ran forward, her hand reaching to her pouch and grabbing a dart as she raced toward Minene who stepped back in shock of the sudden move, the hand with her phone raising slightly before she realized where the sharp projectile was heading and lowered it, but then her eyes widened in fright as her left eye found itself being pierced.

The dart fell to the ground as Uryuu screamed, and a second later Yuto was there, ripping the controls for the explosives away from her. She didn't seem to notice though, she was hunched over, her left hand pressed to her eye as blood dripped onto her dress and the ground.

"My eye!"

"Give up, Ninth! Only an idiot would resist in your condition." Fourth said calmly as he walked toward her, gun leveled at her head.

However it seemed Uryuu Minene had other plans as she rose up and screamed, "Agh! Screw you!" Smoke bombs rocketed from hidden places in her clothes, hitting the ground all around her and blanketing the area. Yuki coughed and sighed in relief when Yuto drew her to his chest, protecting her from the smoke as best he could.

"What the...!" A motorcycle engine could be heard as the detective cursed. Bursting from the smoke cloud Uryuu appeared atop a motorbike, "My Diary's got a name too: the Escape Diary!" And with that she got away, leaping over the entrance gate and disappearing into the city.

A couple hours later, Yuki, Yuto and Fourth were standing in a destroyed classroom, the detective looking out over the damaged school sadly before he turned to face them with a determined gaze.

"Ninth and the others will be falling all over to get at you, kid. When they pounce, I'll be there to put a stop to this madness. As a matter of fact, I propose the three of us form a partnership to ensure exactly that. We can call ourselves the Future Diary Alliance or something like that," he chuckled at the end. Corny, I know. But are you with me?" He held out a hand as an offering, but before Yuki could speak Gasai put his arm out, stopping her from moving.

"And why should we trust you? You nearly killed her earlier!" he growled angrily.

Kurusu shook his head, sighing resignedly, as if he knew this would come up, "Look, I know that things earlier might make me seem suspicious to you. I get that. But if we all want to come out of this thing alive we'll need to work together."

Yuki, not making a move forward this time, looked up at Yuto questioningly. He nodded after a few moments thought, and the man smiled in relief, Meanwhile Yuto's phone crackled briefly, but Yuki was too happy to have another ally to notice the event outside her peripheral. Although whatever it said caused Yuto to hold her tighter, a secret smile stretching across his face.

* * *

And end! This was a fun one to write. I hope you all enjoyed it and see you next week!


	3. Episode 3

A/N: As I said in the previous chapter, length will vary. They won't ever be super-short or anything like that, but they won't always be long (at least by my usual standards). So without further ado, here's the third chapter.

* * *

Episode 3:

It was a sunny day, the amusement park that Yuki and Yuto had gone to was filled with people going from one ride to another and enjoying the sunshine.

Yuki was sitting in a chair in a covered area, a burnt orange sundress covering her frame. She fidgeted as she remembered why she was here. While allying with Kurusu seemed to be a good idea, she wasn't comfortable with being bait. Not that Yuto didn't feel the same way as he voiced his displeasure with the concept, but then Kurusu went on to explain how they would be bait, and suddenly he was all sunshine and unicorns and immediately agreed to the outing.

She blushed as she thought of the look he gave her as he said 'date'. It was something she was still getting used to: being desired. No one had ever been interested in her before, as a girl at any rate. She was always considered too plain, too cut off from everything to be a potential love interest.

"Hey Yuki!" She was broken from her thoughts as she looked over to see Yuto running toward her with an ice-cream cone in each hand, pink locks swaying with each step. He was wearing a contrasting set of green clothes, a dark green short-sleeved button-up and light green slacks. When Yuki had asked why he was so dressed up, she was blushing up a storm due to his apparent need to look his best for their date. She looked at her dress sheepishly. She didn't own anything more casual than a sundress because she'd never had friends to go on outings with.

Slowing down in front of her, Yuto held out a cone, saying, "Bon appetite!"

"Um, Yuto, next time can we go somewhere not as populated? All these people are making me nervous."

A serious look overtook the normally all-smiles pinkette, "Of course, anything for you, Yuki." But right after saying that, his smile returned, "You should probably eat that soon, it's gonna melt."

She took it, saying a quiet thank you before taking a lick, although... Her eyes drifted to Yuto, who was watching her with wide eyes. His cheeks were slightly flushed as well. Yuki's blush returned full force.

Yuto then did something that distracted her, he raised an arm and pointed at something behind her, "We should totally go on that one next!" he said enthusiastically. Yuki shivered in fear at the thought of going on it. Gasai, seeming to notice this, smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'll be with you the entire time."

She was nervous when the ride started, and screamed in terror at every drop, hugging Yuto's arm next to her as a lifeline. Now while he was screaming too, his face had a smugness about it that made her wonder exactly what part of the ride he was enjoying before the next drop drew her thoughts away again.

After they got off, they retired to the food court for lunch, Yuto going to the burger stall's window to order for them, although since Yuki never said what she liked, she wondered exactly how long Yuto had been watching her. She shook her head. It wasn't like he remembered their promise or anything, so it couldn't be that far back... could it?

"I'm sorry, it took a while for them to process the order." He came back with a food-covered tray. Two burgers, large fries and a single glass filled with a green-colored beverage with two straws sticking out of it. He put the tray down, placing her burger before her and she was pleasantly surprised to find (by the small bit of paper stuck to it) that it was in fact her favorite kind: a standard burger with no pickles or lettuce. The burger joint here was the same as the one near her house, so she was familiar with their style.

Now, while Yuki wanted to ask him something, Yuto didn't seem to be interested as he tapped the straw facing her and said cheerfully, "Notice the straw? Drink up!" and proceeded to do just that through his own.

With all the blushing she's done lately she wondered idly if she should just permanently paint her cheeks red and be done with it. She leaned forward and drank, both teens enjoying the drink while staring into each other's eyes. Yuki couldn't help but think Yuto's pink eyes were enchanting. That no one else she knew of had that coloring of either eyes or hair only cemented it in her head that he was wholly unique. And she was perfectly fine with that.

After they finished their meal, Yuto led her to an attraction called "The Original Haunted House". Naturally, Yuki refused. Also naturally, Yuto dragged her in anyway. She looked at him warily as they went in, _He should know by now that this kind of thing scares me. So why..._

Of course her thoughts promptly fled in the face of a monster flying out of the shadows into her face. She screamed in terror, latching on to Yuto with surprising force, burying her face in his side. His arm wrapped around her, "Don't worry," he said, "I'm right here."

She sniffled as they kept walking, tightening her grip whenever a new monster appeared, but she didn't scream again, trusting Yuto to keep her safe.

They went on several different rides, and Yuki's thoughts eventually returned to an earlier one: why is he so interested in her? She never got a chance to ask as with every new ride they went on, her thoughts drifted to the now as opposed to the then, and everything he did just made him look more cool in her eyes.

Then he pointed at the area for the pool and dragged her inside. Now, while she wasn't a C-cup, she was still a modest B. However, that didn't stop her from having problems finding a swimsuit as the only ones available were for everything BUT B. Or at least that's what she thought until an attendant managed to find a green bikini with frills around the top. She was nervous as she put it on, her hands fumbling with the strings. She had never shown this much skin to anyone outside her parents before, so it was nerve racking for her.

But even after putting it on, and seeing Yuto in his swim-trunks, she still couldn't bring herself to get into the water, deciding to hide behind a pole nearby as Yuto looked on amused.

"Come on, the waters not gonna bite!" He said teasingly, "I'll be right there the whole time so there's nothing to worry about."

She shook her head and pressed herself closer to the pole, "No!" It was taking all she had no to shout, but she didn't want to be the center of attention right now so she refrained.

Unfortunately (for her) she once again found herself being dragged in a direction she didn't want to go, and then both she and Yuto were in the pool, although there was an important item missing from the equation that had her blush extend from her face down to her neck. She hastily crossed her arms across her chest and cowered in the water, her face so red she thought she saw steam rising from the heat of it.

"What's wrong?" Her date asked. But he seemed be entirely too amused about the situation for him not to know what happened, so she shook her head swiftly and moved closer to the edge, her eyes scanning for her missing top.

Yuto followed her, "Come on, tell me what's wrong Yuki. I can't help if you don't tell me."

She sighed, it looked like he was going to get his way once again, although she found herself caring about that less and less as time went on, "I-I've never been very good at tying knots and-and I was really nervous so..." She looked away awkwardly, "I'm sorry, b-but could you help me find my top? I feel entirely too exposed without it."

Before she could blink she found her chest pressed up against his, a squeak escaping her lips as he wrapped his arms around her. She looked up at him questioningly, "I don't want anyone else to see you like this, only me." She buried her face in his chest to hide the slight smile that made its appearance on her face.

Then he called over a pool attendant and asked for (read: demanded) help searching for her missing bikini top, and gave a description of it to her and off she went.

"Why did you tell her? I didn't want anyone to know!" She nearly whined, although with the way he was looking at her she knew she was pouting.

"Well, I can't leave you alone like this, and as I said, I don't want anyone else to see so just relax and let them find it. I can wait however long I need to."

She rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, eyes closing in content as he simply held her. When was the last time someone held her like this? Like she was the only thing in the world that mattered? It had been so long, she couldn't think of a time.

Later on, after getting out and changing, they were walking around when Yuto spotted the planetarium, "Ooh, a planetarium! Let's go there!"

Yuki's eyes became hooded as she looked at it, before walking away, "No thanks, I'm not interested."

They found themselves on a Ferris Wheel, Yuki resting her head on the glass as she absently looked out across the surrounding trees and nearby hills.

"I thought you liked the planetarium."

"Did your Diary tell you that?" she asked bitterly. She knew there was no way he remembered their promise, and that was the only time she ever mentioned her desire to see it.

He chuckled, "Of you silly thing, you told me yourself. Don't you remember? It was only a year ago."

She froze, eyes widened in shock as she turned to him, "You remember!?" she blurted out. She had thought it would be something too inane for him to bother with.

Yuto smiled, his head tilting as he looked at her, "Of course I remembered, how could I forget? After all, we did promise to marry each other didn't we?"

She turned her face back into the window, trying to hide her burning cheeks, although it was to no avail as Yuto was suddenly beside her, hand on her chin forcing her to look at him, "I would never forget something so important as that, Yuki." And with that he leaned down and kissed her. Her eyes were wide before they closed, drinking in the comfort that being near him brought her.

* * *

Later in the evening, they were walking down the street when Yuto turned to her, "Hey, Yuki?"

Her eyes flitted toward him, "Yes, Yuto?"

He seemed nervous, "Would it be alright if you came to my house? I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone tonight after everything that's been happening lately."

Smiling at him she nodded. He blushed, turning his head away in an attempt to hide it. She giggled.

A few minutes later brought them to his house. He led her to a room with only a table and a mat while holding a candle, "Sorry for the darkness, we're off the grid at the moment." There was an apple sitting on the table that he picked up, "Surprisingly, this apple was grown in our backyard. Can you believe it? I'll go peel it for you. Be right back!"

"Wait!" She called out before he could close the door. She fidgeted slightly before asking in an embarrassed voice, "Wh-where is the bathroom? I really have to go."

He smiled sweetly, "It's no trouble, I can take you there now. I know with the power out this place can be kinda scary, but don't worry, I'll never leave you alone."

She blinked at that last part, eventually concluding that he wanted to eventually marry her, and shrugged it off, taking his hand and following him to the restroom.

Yuki was shuffling awkwardly as she asked where she would be sleeping, and Yuto was bright red for a moment before suggesting his room. When she nodded he smiled brightly before a thought occurred to her.

"What am I going to sleep in? I can't sleep in my dress."

He blushed before racing away, leaving her standing nervously in the dark hallway for a moment before he came back with a large shirt. He waited outside as she changed. When she finished she opened the door to tell him he could come in when she found herself face-to-face with him. She stepped back hastily, the look in his eyes causing strange feelings to bloom in her belly.

He started to lay a futon on the floor but she stopped him, her heart pounding in her chest as she asked in a small voice, "Wou-would it be alright if you slept with me?" Her eyes widened as she realized what she said before stuttering. "I d-don't mean l-like th-that! I meant..." a warm hand cut her off, resting gently on her lips.

Yuto smiled gently down at her, "I understand what you meant, and besides, this really isn't the best place for such activity anyway."

If her face wasn't red before it was now, as well as her neck and half her chest as the words played themselves over and over in her head.

They laid down on the bed, facing each other before softly saying good night, the candle long-since blown out.

Hours later, she woke with a scream, a vivid nightmare featuring Uryuu coming back and killing everyone frightening her to wakefulness.

She looked at him tearfully, "Yuto..."

Yuto's arms were instantly surrounding her, "Shh, shh, it'll be alright. I'm right here. Don't you worry about a thing."

Not long after she drifted off to sleep again, safe in her crush's arms, and didn't have anymore nightmares the rest of the night.

* * *

The next morning, Yuki woke up to an empty bed. Feeling the need to go to the bathroom, she got up, stretching as she did so. She tried to remember where the room was, and when was nearly there, she came across a door with yellow tape that had "keep out!" written all over it. Curious, she opened the door but before she could see anything a pair of hands covered her eyes.

She panicked for a moment before she recognized Yuto's scent. He had been around so much that she felt like she'd never forget it in a million years.

"S-sorry," he sounded embarrassed, "This room isn't ready for viewing yet. I've been working on it for a while now, so please wait a little longer, okay?"

She nodded, laughing, "Alright, alright! I won't look. Just promise me you'll tell me when it's ready, okay?"

He sounded relieved as he answered in the affirmative. She let him herd her out of the room before closing the door with a click.

* * *

Annnd cut! So, what did you think? Flames will be ignored so keep that in mind. I have better things to do than agonize over someone's bad attitude.

Until next time! :)


	4. Episode 4

A/N: And here's the next chapter. Sorry for the lateness, I was a bit out of it yesterday and spaced. And in honor of all veterans out there who fought for our rights and freedom, I salute you. Happy Veteran's Day.

* * *

Episode 4:

Yuto was buzzing around the kitchen, grabbing a couple cereal boxes, bowls and spoons and placing them on the table. He seemed very happy today, and Yuki couldn't help but wonder why.

"Sorry I don't have more variety, as I said last night we're off the grid so we'll have to make do with dry foods."

She shook her head, "It's fine. My mom is rarely home and I don't usually wake up early enough to make a more elaborate breakfast than burnt toast and cereal."

His smile disappeared, "You know," he said frowning, "I don't think your mom is taking care of you like she should."

Yuki shook her head, "My mom is doing the best she can. She's a single mother and I know I'm not the easiest child to have to support."

He pressed on, "Yuki, my Diary hasn't shown you seeing her at home since before your own Diary appeared. That's not good parenting."

She looked away, "Can we not talk about this? It's making me uncomfortable."

Yuto nodded, but his eyes said this wasn't the end of the conversation.

* * *

After breakfast, they got changed (Not at the same time, get your mind out of the gutter!) they heard a knock at the door. Yuki, still in the midst of putting on an orange skirt and black blouse (apparently Yuto's mom kept her old clothes in her closet, and they fit her although she was suspicious about the likewise fitting bra and panties) wasn't able to get it so Yuto went, and soon enough she heard Kurusu's voice down the hall. She blinked. She honestly hadn't expected him this early in the day. It was, after all, only 9 in the morning.

A knock brought her back to the present. "Just a minute!" She buttoned the shirt up the rest of the way, put on her shoes, threw on a jacket that he had likewise set aside (and was a tad too big on her) and straightened the skirt before nodding to her reflection (there was also a handy-dandy mirror in the room) and opening the door. Yuto stared down at her with a creepy smile, but she attributed it to her wearing the clothes he gave her and put it out of her mind.

He offered her his hand which she took with a small smile of her own and they walked to the door where detective Kurusu was waiting.

"Was there something you needed, detective?" Yuki asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah, but let's talk on the way."

Nodding, they both got into the back of the vehicle, Yuki nearly in Yuto's lap due to how close he was holding her. She was blushing up a storm at how affectionate he was being around others.

Driving down the freeway, Kurusu finally spoke, "It seems Uryuu Minene was abducted last night."

Yuki looked at him, eyes wide in shock, "Seriously?"

"Yup. Gaggle of religious nut jobs who call themselves the Omekata Cult got their hands on her. Least that's what my Diary tells me."

She sat pack in her seat, visibly stunned, "Oh, okay then."

"We're heading for their shrine as we speak. Keep your fingers crossed things go smoothly in there. I may need you guys to run interference." He glanced at them in the rear view mirror, a grim look on his face as he said the last bit.

Yuto pulled her against him, resting her head on his shoulder. She looked up at him, worry showing in her eyes.

"Don't worry," he whispered in her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine, "I'll be right beside you the entire time. No one will hurt you while I'm around."

She nodded, face beet red, something that drew a confused look from the pinkette in question but a rueful chuckle from the driver.

"Ah, young love."

* * *

At the shrine, Yuki was looking on the event going on in front of her in confusion. There was a line of people, each with an embroidered cloth around their shoulders, a stylized eye repeated over and over across its length. They were walking under a series of arches while people she assumed were members of the shrine throwing flower petals into the air above them.

The couple watched as Kurusu talked to a young priestess-in-training about getting an appointment.

"You'd have less trouble getting an appointment with the Emperor."

Fourth had his badge out, "Look, all I'm asking is for a bit of time. It's quite urgent."

The girl pinched the bridge of her nose, "Alright fine. But don't get your hopes up."

He held up a hand in gratitude, "Thanks. You're a lifesaver."

The girl then turned around and called out, "Ai!" An older girl turned around to look at her, "We've got a live one."

During the latter half of the conversation, Yuki spotted a frog sitting on one of large stones lining a nearby pond. She walked over to it and knelt down, a small smile on her face as she held a small staring contest with it. She had always liked water creatures. Not as much as she liked the stars, but it was close.

She picked it up in her hands to get a closer look, and then felt a presence behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she was mildly surprised (although she found herself becoming so less and less) to find Yuto kneeling behind her, a strange smile on his face as he started at her and the frog, but mostly her.

Giggling softly, she lowered her frog-laden hands to the water and watched it hop in. Of course she yelped in shock when a koi fish came to the surface and swallowed it whole. Yuki grew sad at that, but the feeling didn't last as she squeaked upon feeling Yuto's hand on her back, her feet moving forward slightly at the unexpected sensation. She turned around, intent on scolding him for scaring her, but stopped short upon seeing his eyes. The sheer intensity held within them had her riveted to the spot.

She found herself leaning forward when a voice broke her out of her trance, "Hey, play it cool."

She blushed as she realized where they were, noticing a man in the line looking at them suspiciously before returning his gaze to the front.

Minutes later, the young girl Kurusu had been talking to ran out of the temple, stopping just in front of him, "Guess there's a first time for everything. She's actually okay with seeing you without an appointment." Yuto stood up and offered a hand that Yuki gratefully accepted, allowing him to pull her up.

"Follow me, please," the girl then proceeded to turn around and walk towards the shrine, with the three behind her. Several people in the line glared at them as the passed, making Yuki uncomfortable but Yuto then proceeded to glare right back, and the stares stopped shortly after.

Inside, the young girl went into the back and rummaged around for a minute before coming back out with 3 of the embroidered cloths and a stick with cut up paper on strings hanging off it. They were handed one one of each, and tried their best to put the cloth on the way they saw the others do it.

"Everyone got theirs on?"

"Yeah, but what is this for?" The detective held up the stick, a befuddled look on his face as he tried to work out its purpose.

The girl's eyebrow twitched as she turned away, "Don't try to get all cute. It's called tradition."

Yuki and Yuto blinked at each other in confusion, Yuki waving her own stick a bit before following their guide.

They were led through the compound past various rooms and around several corners before stopping in front of an open doorway. The girl walked inside followed by Kurusu, but Yuki felt an odd chill in the air, "This place is kinda creepy."

These words were only accented by the rows of people lining the walls on either side, each kneeling on the ground with their backs straight and hands folded in their laps. She felt it kinda eerie as they were the people that they had passed in the line to get here. Yuki wondered if there was some short-cut that they took that the girl felt was too good for them. She shook her head and walked in, Yuto following silently behind her.

They walked past a number of people, some of them held hard eyes and others blank, but each sat in their rows as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

The 3 knelt in the middle of the room, Kurusu in the front, and Yuki and Yuto sitting behind, their positions reminiscent of a diagonal line.

Yuki took a moment to take in the room (barring the people in it). Before them was a fenced barrier, wooden bars intersecting to cordon off the room behind it. Bamboo patterns could be seen on the walls, and more of the fence was on the walls behind the shrine-goers.

 _It feels more like a prison than a shrine,_ she thought humorlessly, her eyes darting this way and that as she suddenly felt trapped.

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance," the voice of a girl spoke up, drawing Yuki's gaze back to the fenced-off side of the room. Kneeling on a raised mat in front of a black table upon which a green-colored scroll lay, was a girl Yuki guessed was around her age. She was wearing a pale-red kimono and had long raven-colored straight hair that fell down her back and two medium strands that lay on her front on either side of her face, the one on her right side obscuring her right eye. The red bow on the top of her head seemed strangely both appropriate and out of place at the same time. The eye they could see was a vivid purple.

"I am Lady Omekata; also known as Tsubaki Kasugano." She leaned forward, a crazed look overtaking her as she spoke, "I do hope you will enjoy your stay here." Naturally, this made Yuki uncomfortable.

"I would have a closer look at your face. Yukihana."

She gasped. How did she know her name? She could hear Yuto tensing behind her, his feet sliding across the mat floor as he prepared to move at a moment's notice.

"You're..." It was at that moment she realized two things. One, that Tsubaki had poor eyesight. And two, that Tsubaki Kasugano was a Diary holder.

"Quite. I have been burdened with poor eyesight since childhood. Thus I spent the greater portion of my life holding court from this most humble of cells. One of the few consolations afforded to me is to write of the many visitors I receive from far-flung corners of the world." She reached over and grabbed the green scroll, unfurling it and laying it out before her, "Not a month ago, however, my record of people began to offer the details of events yet to come." Yuto and Kurusu gasped as they came to the same conclusion she had moments before. Tsubaki continued on ignoring this, "Thus I have taken to calling it the Clairvoyant Diary. Upon it are written observations of those around me."

"Oh no," Kurusu cursed under his breath, coming to a conclusion that clearly wasn't in their best interest.

"This is my Diary," she proclaimed proudly, holding the green scroll in her hands, stretching from one side of her to the other. "I am designated Sixth among you."

Kurusu's troubled face did nothing for Yuki's rising anxiety. With her suspicions confirmed, this made the ball in Tsubaki's court, as she had home field advantage. The detective was rising to his feet when Tsubaki spoke again, looking down at her Diary in amusement.

"Detective, it seems you've prepared a raid as a precautionary measure. How very sharp of you."

A whimper broke from Yuki's lips, and in a flash Yuto was in front of her, shielding her from Tsubaki's gaze, a hand stretched behind him to comfort her as he glared at Sixth.

While Yuki was grateful that Kurusu had thought far enough ahead to plan such a thing, it was ominous that Kasugano was making light of it. She had a bad feeling about their meeting.

The so-called oracle laughed, hiding her mouth behind her sleeve as she did so, "I apologize. Your reputation precedes you yet you hide like a child from an abusive father." Yuki stiffened at those words before pressing her face into Yuto's back, wrapping her arms around him in the same movement. "I assure you, you have nothing to fear from me. I have no desire to succeed God. The woman called Ninth is being kept below. You have my blessing to do with her as you will."

"No, this," Kurusu stood up, hands splayed to either side, "This is far too easy."

"I am not one to meddle in secular matters."

She held up her Diary, two words standing out in bold letters.

"Dead End?"

"My thoughts are bent on more... eternal concerns," the girl said frankly as she lowered the Diary back to the table. "You though. In the course of this shameful game you have already foiled two Dead Ends." Yuto and Yuki were on their feet as she spoke her next words. It wasn't something that any of them had been expecting. "I propose an exchange of sorts. I shall give you Uryuu Minene. On condition that Yukihana stays here and protects me."

Yuto was quick to give his opinion of that proposal, "Hell no! We're not agreeing to that."

"What a dilemma."

Fourth looked troubled as he considered Tsubaki's offer. He turned to look at her, "What do you say?"

Yuki looked at him with confused eyes as Yuto immediately turned it down, "She says no!"

"Please, First," Tsubaki softly entreated.

Yuki grew nervous at all the attention on her. She never had fared well under the microscope.

Of course, she still didn't get a chance to respond as Yuto dragged her out of the large room. Kurusu sighing in exasperation before following after them, sending a 'what can you do?' look at Tsubaki before leaving.

Hours later, they found themselves still at the shrine, Kurusu having talked Yuto into having Yuki stick around to help. After promising that he'd call the raid if something happened.

Yuki was seated in front of the barrier, a door that seemed to be part of it opened as attendants went inside with bedding, placing it beside Tsubaki before departing. _I know she said she didn't leave often, but I didn't think she actually lived here!_

Yuto was standing outside, looking pensively at his phone, and Yuki could only hope that it never crackled.

"If you don't mind my saying, that boy is your enemy."

Yuki's head shot up, "What? What are you on about? Did your Diary tell you that?"

Tsubaki shook her head, "No, my intuition. He will surely be the death of you in the end."

Before she could respond, her eyebrows furrowed angrily as she opened her mouth, her phone crackled, and her eyes darted too it in shock, not having any time to properly respond as the blankets beside Tsubaki erupted in flames that nearly reached the ceiling. She reared back in shock, screaming in fear.

An attendant ran in, a bucket of what she presumed to be water in hand that he emptied on the fire, but unlike water, the substance that came out was dark and only served to feed the flames.

"You idiot! You just threw on gasoline!"

An older attendant yelled, grasping his shoulder. It was then that Yuki noticed the vacant expression in the younger male's eyes, but it cleared up seconds after his shoulder was shook.

"What in the... Was I doing something just now?" he appeared shocked, looking around trying to figure out where he was. His eyes widened as he took in the fire before him.

"Simpleton!" The older attendant yelled. He turned around, "Someone get a bucket of water!"

But right after he fell, an axe in his head. Some of the blood spattered on Yuki, who looked at it with vacant eyes, numb to the proceedings. She had never done well with blood. And the moment reminded her of Mr. Hiyama's death,even without the blood. She touched the blood with numb hands, a strange look on her face before she collapsed unconscious on the floor.

* * *

POV change: Yuto

After seeing the old man get murdered, his beloved Yuki collapsed in shock. While he was slightly irritated that she couldn't stomach the man's death, he was grateful that she wasn't conscious anymore. It meant she wouldn't be doing anything stupid like try to rescue the shitty oracle who tried to turn her against him.

Oh yes, he knew what Tsubaki Kasugano was trying to do. His Diary had warned him. And she could burn for all he cared for trying to get in the way of their love.

He watched on as the axe-murderer looked at the dead body in horror, "What have I done?"

Yuto rolled his eyes, _Wimp._

The next moment saw him looking to the side as more seemingly possessed attendants appeared, each with an axe in hand groaning like the undead in a stereotypical zombie movie.

His eyes widened, surprise overtaking him for a moment before they hardened. He had to get Yuki out of there. Racing inside, he knocked the other killer out of the way and grabbed his beloved, hoisting her over his shoulder. He would have preferred to carry her in his arms, but he needed one free to hold the axe he grabbed out of the dead man's skull.

Of course, he became confused as they almost immediately turned on each other, cutting each other down and spraying blood everywhere. Yuki even woke up slightly to the screams, but fainted at the sheer barbarity of the acts being committed before her.

Some of them started walking towards them, but he cut them down with impunity. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her if it was the last thing he did!

He cut a swath through the survivors, making his way out of the building.

Moments after getting outside, the sprinkler system activated, putting out the fires.

His phone rang, "Sorry for taking so long, someone disabled the sprinklers. I was fixing them."

It was then he remembered Kurusu had promised to call in a raid, "Call in the raid, now!"

"Was planning on it... Woah!" he cut himself off with a cry of shock as the phone went dead.

Frowning, Yuto hurried through the complex, killing anyone that got in his way. He would have to make sure Yuki never learned about what he did. She cared too much about people to be able to understand.

When he turned a corner around a building close to the entrance, he found Kurusu being held down by a number of the seemingly hypnotized people. He kept yelling at them to get off, and when they didn't even react to his approach, Yuto, (with Yuki still over his shoulder) started whacking them off, swing the axe like a golf club. Normally he would have cut them to pieces, but blood and gore makes it difficult to stand up, and he didn't want to get billed the amount he was sure the cleaner would charge to get the blood out of Kurusu's suit.

Fourth stood up shakily, "Thanks kid, now I need to call in our back-up." He took out his phone and called his men waiting outside the complex, "I don't know what you guys are waiting for, but we've got a situation in here. Send in the squads, now! We've got crazy people killing each other with axes and I'm not equipped to handle a riot!"

It was then that Yuto realized something, the bodies of those she passed weren't quite as dead as she liked. Raising her axe into the air, she brought it down on a body, the squelching sound as she pulled it back drawing Kurusu's attention.

He looked at him with an insane smile, "We have to kill the corpses."

As soon as the words were spoken, the formerly dead bodies rose up and charged at them, hands outstretched. He continued to hack away at them, keeping them as far from his precious cargo as possible.

The detective looked on in horror as he cut down one person after another, before he checked his Diary, and found him to be telling the truth. He cursed under his breath. He was about to put it away when he read the next entry. His eyes narrowed. It seemed that if he wanted to be of any use he'd have to get physical. Fourth grabbed an axe and started swinging.

They were forced backwards, deeper into the compound as the mob pressed in on them, driving them back to Tsubaki's room, but Kurusu became separated from them as they moved. Sixth was stepping out of the enclosed area, calling for her attendants only for her eyes to widen in shock at the carnage before her.

Night fell as they retreated, and with the lights out it was difficult to see in areas without moonlight.

Yuto considered putting Yuki down to make fighting easier, but then he couldn't guarantee her safety, so on his shoulder she remained.

He had been so happy to wake up with her beside him that morning, to see her resting so peacefully beside him as if she didn't have a care in the world. He would do everything to make that a reality. And if he had to kill everyone else to do it, then so be it.

The world would burn and with it his goddess would rise to the heavens where she belongs.

* * *

And cut! So what do you think? Be sure to review and as with last time, flames will be ignored and at times laughed at.

Until next time!


	5. Episode 5

A/N: And here we are once again, I'll stop talking and let you get on with the chapter.

* * *

Episode 5:

POV: Yuto

The room was dark as Yuto stared at Tsubaki. His grin bloody as he considered killing her to make things easier on his darling. Sure she might not look like trouble, but she had tried to drive a wedge between him and his beloved Yuki, and that was unforgivable.

She took a step back in fright as she looked at her Diary, her visible eye wide as it took in the bloody form of Yuto.

"I know killing you probably won't stop these guys, but it WILL mean less trouble for Yuki down the line, and that's all the reason I need to take you out."

She backed up in fright, but then a cultist came closer and Yuto decided that killing her now might jeopardize his darling, and so he slammed a cultist through a wall, creating a path to the outside. He turned to face the girl, "Goodbye, little witch," and ran outside. Annoyingly, the little chit followed.

It was then that Yuki's phone rang. Grabbing it from her pants pocket (and blushing as he came so close to touching her skin), he checked the caller ID before he answered. "Yuki is unavailable right now, what do you need, Kurusu?"

"The men will be there soon. I'm sorry for disappearing, they were trying to disable the sprinklers again so I had to fend them off."

"Alright, we'll be out of here shortly. What are you going to do?"

The man paused on the other end, "I'm going to check on Ninth."

The power was on in the next building as they raced through it. As Yuto turned a corner, he saw people lining the walls on either side of the hallway, a vacant expression covering all their faces.

"It's an honor to see you, my Lady."

"Wondrous to see you your Ladyship."

He scowled. These idiots were getting in the way of getting his Yuki to safety. He'd kill them all if it wouldn't slow him down.

They made it outside, running along the surrounding deck when Yuto spotted the exit. His eyes gained a determined glint as he sped up, only to be stopped by Tsubaki tugging at Yuki's leg. He spun around, axe swinging, but the little oracle deftly avoided it.

"Wait, please. We should pay the villains back in kind."

"What are you on about, fool?" he barked out angrily. He didn't have time for this!

"My adherents have been restored to their senses, have they not? We have numbers on our side!"

Silence ensued. Yuto stared down at her distinctly unimpressed, "I'm on to you. Did you think I'd let you trick my woman so easily?"

"Delusional. Do you see, Yuki?" At that moment Yuki stirred, Yuto cursed at the timing, but then Yuki's phone rang again.

"What is it, Kurusu?"

"What are you horsing around for? Twelve's about to be on top of you."

"We're moving!"

"Guy's bad news top to bottom. Has eyes like a mole rat and ears like a radar. He's got explosives with him and he fully intends to use them."

"What else would he do with them? Play fetch? Of course he intends to use them!"

"Hey, don't get snippy! Just get out of there already."

"C-could you let me down now, Yuto?" a small voice piped up from behind his shoulder.

He hastened to lower her to to the ground, her face dusted with pink as he let her go.

"Are you feeling alright?" He didn't notice her getting hurt earlier, but if she had so much as a scratch...

"I'm fine, I'm not feeling any pain and I don't think I'll be fainting again anytime soon."

Of course right after that he noticed something on the roof, although he was too weirded out by the bizarre getups that the five people running across the opposite roof were wearing. The bizarre headgear reminded him of the shadowing figure from the meeting of the Diaries and instantly moved in front of Yuki, who didn't even protest the protective stance after what she had seen earlier.

The 5 then started doing a strange dance that soon enough had them announcing their "names".

"Twelfth Red."

"Twelfth Blue."

"Twelfth Yellow."

"Twelfth Green."

"Twelfth Pink." (surprisingly yet not, this was said in a female voice)

Twelfth Red yelled out, "Together we form..."

And as one they called out, "The Twelfth Five!"

They each struck an obviously choreographed pose upon finishing. Then Green pulled out an antique detonator and pushed the plunger down, plumes of multi-colored smoke appearing behind them before disappearing in a fiery explosion.

Then one by one they leapt off the roof to the hall in front of them, each one kneeling then rising as they landed.

"Pleasure to meet you, First."

"Surprised."

"I'll bet."

"Not that I blame you."

Yuki muttered in daze, "I have absolutely no response to this."

"Mind your manners, miscreant! You're being addressed to by an adult!"

She straightened at the lecturing tone, "Sorry. Hi."

"Heed my warning, girl! Sixth is playing you for a fool." An accusing finger was pointed at said girl, "The initiatory ritual for membership in this cult is a blight on civilized behavior everywhere!"

POV Change: Normal (Yuki)

Blinking furiously, she tried to process what the masked man was telling her. Looking to her right, she was surprised to see a scowl on her fellow girl's face, which didn't exactly help her situation any.

"Neophyte acolytes are forced to share the burden of this cult's evil secret," the female 'Twelfth' spoke up, "Thus cinching unwavering loyalty from all who join!"

"In short, this sect is a brainwashing factory." Green spoke this time. It was getting confusing keeping track of them due to the absurd outfits being so similar.

"My purpose here tonight," In the end, Yuki decided to heck with it and just decided to listen, "Is to terminate Sixth."

"As I cannot guarantee your safety I suggest you leave."

"Be advised that one of me has ingested a timed incendiary device"

"And that me will be going kablooie!"

"Ooookaaaayyyy. But what about the other four?" Yuki asked with her brows furrowed. The absurdity of the whole thing was really draining her patience.

The one designated Red ambled forward, a device that reminded her of a recording device in his hand, "Mesmerized decoys, I'm afraid. Desperate times, desperate measures." He rested the bottom of it on the ground, kneeling behind it as he did so, "I've had the demoralizing bad fortune to be notified of a Dead End."

"I cannot say I'm shocked, being deep inside enemy lines," Blue didn't sound upset at all about the turn of events

Yellow moved forward next, "But I can at least take that enemy with me when I go."

"If by surrendering my life I advance the cause of Justice, Fate's terms are acceptable!" For some reason, Yuki felt that if he had written out his words, Justice would have been capitalized.

"Alright then, I accept."

Yuki's head turned in surprise to stare at her crush in shock, how could he just abandon someone like that? And one they had promised to protect!

"Yuto I.." she was cut off as the 5 Twelfths then suddenly charge, not even waiting for them to leave.

The pinkette scowled.

"I think it's the red one." She said quietly to Yuto. She didn't want anyone to get hurt, but if Twelfth was going to hurt them anyway then there was nothing else for it.

The 5 bag-heads ran at them, switching places constantly but Yuto seemed to have a plan. Grabbing a piece of rock lying on the ground, he held it behind the head of the axe and ran at them.

"Yuto! Please be careful!"

"You can't mean to attack them with such bad odds, can you?" Tsubaki obviously had no faith in him.

He looked back at Yuki briefly, eyes showing his devotion and love for her as he said, "Don't worry, I have a plan."

His movements were quick, when they were separated by mere feet, he threw the stone to the left, impacting against a rail, causing 4 heads to turn in its direction, leaving only the true Twelfth's head unturned. With lightning speed, Yuto weaved past the others and slashed through his neck, the momentum throwing him over the railing into the courtyard.

"Victory is yours. Let Justice prevail." And with his last words he was gone.

"Yuki was right. It was the red one."

Moments later, Twelfth's voice rang out from the now-revealed Diary on the ground, "7:07 P.M. Hirisaka Komotsu, A.K.A. Twelfth, perishes. Dead End."

An explosion shook the building as Twelfth's body exploded, revealing he had planted them inside himself.

Yuki sighed in relief. It was finally over. Then Yuto collapsed. Racing over, she cradled him in her arms, placing her hand on his forehead and pulled it back quickly, "Yuto! Crap! You're burning up!" She brought his head to her chest, rocking him slightly, "I'm so sorry, if I wasn't so weak..."

"Kudos, Second. You have my respect."

"Huh?" Yuki blinked up at Tsubaki who had walked closer to them, a sneer on her face.

The doors to the compound were being pushed closed.

"What are they doing?"

Then she found herself dragged to her feet, two cultists holding her arms as another pair held Yuto. His flushed features only accenting his obviously weak frame. He was in no shape to react now.

"Sorry, Yuki." Yuto called out pitifully.

"Let me go! Tsubaki, what's going... on?" Her eyes widened. She didn't want to believe it after all they went through, but there could be no other explanation. The sinister smile on the cultist handing Tsubaki a smoking pipe only pushing her to the only conclusion that made sense. She looked at the girl sadly, "You're going to kill us, aren't you?"

She clapped mockingly, "Oh goody, you figured it out. Ninth was bait from the beginning; wheels withing wheels as our game master would say. Damn that Twelfth!" The deceased man's diary was thrown at her feet, which she harshly stepped on, although it didn't even crack it.

Yuki looked at Tsubaki sadly, "But why? I thought we were getting along! I thought we were friends!"

"No doubt you think me virtuous. I was relieved of my virtue long ago." She looked at the once-oracle horrified, understanding in an instant what she meant. "It's far too cruel a world to be naive in. Or for that matter a virgin." She walked over and placed her hand on Yuki's cheek affectionately, "We could do something about your virtue if you'd like."

And then she kissed her, and it all came crashing down.

Stepping back to check her Diary again, she was shocked as it still read "Dead End". "This is impossible, how can this be? Twelfth is dead, so who could possibly..." The sound of a blade slicing through the air and eventually skin pierced the night, drawing her attention to Yuto who had somehow recovered enough to hack away at the cultists holding him, his very being filled with rage.

"You kissed my Yuki!" he screamed, charging at them. "You whore!" Tsubaki made an attempt to protect her Diary, but that didn't appear to be Yuto's target as he still brought the axe down, a hand falling to the ground right after.

The now one-handed Sixth Diary holder screamed in pain.

Yuto stumbled over to Yuki, leaning against her heavily as the adrenaline left him, "Yuto!" She held him gently.

"You... have to... make a run for it." He said brokenly, "Here, take this." He placed Yuki's and his own phone in her hand before pushing her over the side, falling to the ground shortly after with a thump.

She stood up quickly, "I can't just leave you!"

"You have to. There's no other way." He countered. "If only one of us can get away, then it will be you. I love you Yuki."

Tears filled her eyes as she heard this, "I-I love you too, Yuto." And so she ran.

She hid underneath a part of the complex, hiding near the center with only the light of Yuto's phone keeping away true darkness.

"Come out come out wherever you are!"

"Come on girlie, we promise we won't hurt you."

"Yeah, we promise. Hehehe."

A slap was heard, "You idiot, we're trying to draw her out, what was that supposed to do?"

"Sorry sir."

"Where could she be hiding?"

"It's just one kid, we'll find her soon enough. And when we do, the Lady said we could have some fun with her."

The vile chuckles that ensued from this comment only served to have Yuki retreat further into the inky black that surrounded her, hiding from the flashlights.

Tears fell down her face as she thought over the events of the past few hours. _Tsubaki was leading me on the whole time._ She cursed her inability to see it. Sure she'd been unconscious for most of it, but she'd let herself be talked into protecting her by Kurusu despite Yuto's best efforts. "I should have trusted him," she thought sadly.

Trying to stay positive, she scrolled up to look at past entries, and stopped when she came to the top of the previous day. She blushed as she read that he had considered it a date, and the way he kept calling her a goddess only served to deepen it. Sure she liked to be called beautiful, what girl didn't? But to actually find out that someone she liked thought that about her nearly made her swoon.

As she kept reading, her heart began to ache as she realized that her words spoken earlier were true. Sure he seemed to be unusually, scarily obsessed with her, but it wasn't like anyone else would go this far for her.

Then she read the words that he spoke to her often, "I love you Yuki". She sniffled, only just managing to cover her mouth to stifle the noise before the devotees returned.

Just then Tsubaki's voice echoed over the surrounding area, "Testing. Are you there First? There's about to be a fire sale on Second's virtue."

"No!" Yuto's strangled cry broke her heart. "I was saving myself for Yuki! Get your hands off me" Ripping sounds filled the air, and suddenly Yuki knew what she had to do.

She was about to move, when she saw something under the central pillar. A light turned on in her head, and she grabbed it before racing out of her hiding place, drawing shocked looks from those who were still searching for her as she ran to the main hall of the temple, grabbing an axe as she went.

A wordless scream of rage left her lips as she ran in, seeing several of Tsubaki's followers crouched over Yuto. "Get off of him! Get off!" She cried as she waved her axe in mad arcs, forcing them to flee if they didn't want to get killed.

She stood over him panting harshly, eyes glaring at all around her as she recovered her breath.

"You're braver than I thought, First. Nicely done." Even now Kasugano was still mocking her.

"You shouldn't have come, Yuki. Get out while you still can!" Yuto tried to get her to leave him behind, but her blood was running far too hotly in her veins for her to ever consider that, especially not after coming to terms with her feelings for him.

"What's wrong with you? Have you no shame?" She yelled at the one-handed cult leader after cutting Yuto's bonds.

"A worthy sacrifice on my path to godhood," Sixth said dismissively. "Believe me, when I attain the throne of time none of this pain will matter."

Yuki dropped her axe to the ground, and reached into the pouch at her hip, drawing a single dart. "Don't bother. You're in full view of my adherents, idiot." She unfurled her Diary, "All of your movements are right here. There's no option open to you that I can't see. More eyes are on you in this room than can possibly be evaded."

"I know. My Diary says that in more or less the same words. Funny, and yet somehow no Dead End has been triggered for me." Tsubaki grunted in annoyance, "Which means I'm not checkmated yet. I still have options." She took off her jacket and wrapped it around Yuto's waist, tying it in a knot. She turned back to the other Diary holder with steel in her eyes, "Options like this." She straightened up, "I choose to live, and I choose to live this life with Yuto."

"You idiot girl!"

A plan formed in her head as she walked slowly toward the Omekata group. _I can do this. All I need is a second._ "Look at this!" She then threw a small ball high into the air above their heads.

"No!" the cult leader cried as the thoughts of all her followers turned to the ball, rendering her power useless. "Don't touch my scroll!" She tried to roll it up, only to realize with dawning horror that without her right hand it would be nigh-impossible without assistance, and it was in that moment that Yuki struck, launching her dart with deadly accuracy straight at it.

It flew true.

"Why on earth? Of all the things... Where have you been?" She asked nostalgically as her body began to tear itself apart, her bloodied arm reached for the ball but was sucked into the hole that appeared at her center.

Yuto threw his arms around her, hugging her to him, "Oh Yuki."

She looked down at her feet, feeling like a damsel with the way she had run off earlier. "I should have come sooner. I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, "Not at all. While I'm glad you came back for me, I still wish you hadn't risked yourself like that."

They later found themselves in the back of Kurusu's car, Yuto leaning against her with a pair of loaned pants on his legs and her loaned jacket covering his chest.

She smiled down at him as she remembered all they had gone through, and while he wished he wasn't quite so possessive, she wouldn't trade him for the world. And so, for the first time, she initiated the kiss, and sealed the sleeping Yuto's lips with hers.

* * *

And cut! You know how this goes, R&R and flamers doused in water. See you next week!


	6. Episode 6

A/N: And here we are once again, thanks for sticking with it this far. And a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it!

* * *

Episode 6:

It was a bright and sunny day, and all was well with the world. Or rather, it would be if one didn't think about the mass killings that had been going on lately. And then there was dear Yuto Gasai calmly smashing in part of a window and breaking into Yukihana Amano's house. Naturally, if one saw this they would be alarmed.

But at the moment the resident of the house was away at the airport, waiting for her mother's plane to arrive. "I really need to start using my Diary for more mundane things. If I'd known she'd be late I wouldn't have gotten here at 4 on the dot."

"Hey hey! There she is!"

And there she was, her mother, Rea Amano. Now, it might surprise onlookers to know that they are in fact related. Their eyes and hair colors were quite different after all, with Rea's being sea-green and hair being a light brown. But they did in fact have some similarities, sharing noses, mouth and chin as well as facial structure.

She greeted her daughter with a hug, and quickly went outside to hail a taxi, not wanting to stay at the airport longer than necessary.

"Sorry for the wait, sweetie," she said after they had packed her things into the trunk and were on the road, "I hope you didn't have to wait long."

She shook her head, "No, not too long."

"I swear it feel like I've been gone a year with how much you've grown."

"It's only been a month, mom."

The older Amano poked her cheek playfully, "Here you go with the attitude."

 _This was going to be a long day._

She loved her mother, she really did, but she was gone so often that she rarely saw her anymore. Yuki knew her mom's gaming company was really busy lately, but couldn't she take a little time off to visit her own daughter a bit more?

"So do you have anything in particular you'd like for dinner?"

"Not anything in particular."

"Guess it'll be my default. Steak Hamburguesa," she finished saying this with a peace sign and a wide smile. Yuki smiled.

"So why did the brass let you off?"

The smile slipped off, "Something... kind of came up. I'll tell you about it later. And Yuki-dear, I wish you would stop dying your hair."

She looked out the window, "You know why I do it."

Rea sighed, running her fingers through Yuki's hair, "Alright, I'll let it drop." The unspoken 'for now' hanging in the air. "Change of subject." She then leaned in real close, a smirk on her face,"So, a lucky athlete make my little girl a woman yet?"

"Mom!"

She pushed on, sensing something juicy, "Come on! You can tell me."

"Most moms freak out about stuff like that, you know."

Rea brushed it off, "Well sure. "Cause they're idiots."

Yuki cocked her head to the side, "Does sleeping in the same bed count? Cause that's the best I got."

The instant she said it she knew she shouldn't have as an unholy light gleamed in her mother's eyes. The older woman latched on to her daughter and shook her, "Come on, I need details!"

* * *

As she was pressed for information, they finally arrived at home. Grabbing the bags, they walked through the gate but Rea stopped before going inside.

"Um, Yuki, was the window broken before you left?"

"No, nothing was broken when I left. Why do you ask?"

She pointed, and Yuki blinked as she took it in. "So, that's a no."

Yuki was quick to grab her phone out and check her Diary, sighing in relief when it said it was just Yuto. Then she read the bit about him cleaning the house. "Huh? Why'd he want to clean it?"

"What was that, dear?"

She paled as she remembered where she was, "Oh um, one of my friends from school said he'd be dropping by and I forgot to give him my key, so he broke in."

Her mother was like a shark in water after Yuki was done talking, eyes narrowed in mischief as she smirked, "Oh? A BOY friend you say?"

Her cheeks heated up, "We-we don't have that kind of relationship. Although I wish we did." She muttered the last part, but squeaked when she saw her mother in front of her with her ear to her mouth, turning the impish look on her once again.

"Well, we'll just have to make him feel at home, won't we?"

Still blushing, she nodded before moving to open the door.

"Why don't you start getting dinner ready while I put your things in your room?"

"That'd be wonderful, thanks. Oh and if you see that BOY friend of yours, be sure to tell him to say hi. I want to meet him. Mother's prerogative after all."

Face steaming, she ran up the stairs.

After putting the bags down, she looked around the second floor for a bit before she went to her room, and stood there in shock as her previously semi-tidy room was now spotless. Her eyes immediately shot to the only other person in the room, "Wh-what are you doing?"

"I'm cleaning up. We want me to make a good impression on your mom, right? You want her to like me right"

"Of-of course! But, did you have to break the window? I would have given you a key if I knew you were coming by."

Yuto beamed at her, "That's so sweet!" He then went back to what he was doing, chanting "Scrub, scrub, scrub scrub." over and over as he did exactly that" scrub the floor.

Yuki gained an odd look on her face as she tried to figure out why he would doing this just to make a good impression. After all, most boys his age would just buy a bouquet of flowers and give them to her and charmingly kiss her hand. Or at least that's what she heard through the gossip vine at school.

"Since when do you cook?" Rea called up suddenly. Blinking in confusion, she looked down at Yuto who had stopped scrubbing to smile up at her. "Last I checked you couldn't even boil water."

"I am not that bad! And it was only one time!"

"It was a bit more than one time!"

"This is the part where you tell me how handsome I am." Yuki straightened his shirt, and quietly did so, earning a peck on the cheek as a reward.

"Hey, Julia Childe, where are you? Are you in your room?" Rea asked as she opened the door. She blinked as she took in the sight of her daughter alone in her room with a boy. Then she smiled, "Why hello there, who are you?"

Yuto stepped forward, hand outstretched, "Yuto Gasai. It's a pleasure to meet you mom!"

Visibly stunned by the greeting, Yuki fell down in a faint. Yuto was quick to catch her though, something that Rea nodded in approval of.

Later, after Yuki had recovered, they were all seated at the table for dinner when Rea turned to the man in the house, "So, Yuto Gasai, Mercy, how incredibly handsome are you?" Yuto blushed at this, a stunned look on his face at how accepting Yuki's mother was.

She turned to look at her daughter, "So where have you been hiding him all this time? The last time we spoke you said you hadn't even been able to speak around him!"

"Mom!" She whined, she didn't want him to know that!

Then Yuto stood up, drawing their eyes as he walked over to the counter and grabbed a small dish. "Excuse me ma'am, but I steamed some vegetables if you'd like to try a bite."

"Interesting," was Rea said as she lifted her chopsticks to pick out a piece.

Both teens looked on in anticipation, Yuki more so than Yuto as Yuki was aware of how critical her mother could be of someone's cooking.

But then she nodded in satisfaction, "Yum. Well done, my dear. That's some serious talent you've got. Very impressive. You've practically got a little showcase going on here. I know Home Ec prodigies when I see them."

"Thank you, ma'am!"

"None of that 'ma'am' nonsense! Call me mom! This family could use a man like you!"

"You think?"

"I do! I'd love to see you in a tuxedo! And I know Yuki would beautiful in a wedding dress."

"Or something a little more traditional maybe."

"Are we talking a Shinto ceremony?"

"Modernism has its good points too."

She placed her chopsticks down with a satisfied sigh, "Ah where do the years go? Kids grow up so face. One minute your buying cereal, the next cruise vouchers. There's hardly time to get a handle on them before they plunge right into adulthood."

"Daughter mine," Yuki looked at her mother pensively, suddenly having a bad feeling, "Birds and bees time. Seal the deal!"

"Oh wow!"

"Don't think I'd pimp my little girl out to anyone. You seem like a nice boy."

"Really mom, that's very sweet."

"I'm not too late for the party right? Have you two already done it?"

"Well," Yuto started, but Rea instantly made a connection.

"Oh! You're the boy Yuki slept with!"

"Mom! You said it that way on purpose!"

"Oh hush dear, it's a mother's right to embarrass her daughter in front of prospective husbands."

"Hu-hus-HUSBAND! Wh-where did you get that idea?"

"Have you not been listening? I want grandbabies!"

A few minutes later found Yuki sitting in the living room on the couch, looking at her phone and sighing as she listened to Yuto and her mom laughing over some photos.

"Oh wait! Get a load of her in this one!"

"Look at those cheeks!"

"Can you believe she was ever this small? Or ever not such a royal pain in the keister?"

"She's not that bad."

"Defending her now are we?"

"Oh Mom."

"Oh, ha! And this was her first ever swimming lesson."

"Oh! Look at those cheeks!"

"You must really like her cheeks if you keep commenting on them."

"But they look so pinchable!"

Yuki became confused, _I know we have a lot of photos, but the only ones that would get THOSE kinds of responses would be... Oh crap!_ She bolted from her seat to the kitchen as she realized exactly what part of the photo album they were looking through.

"Mom! You said you wouldn't do this again! Remember last time?"

"Oh sweetie, relax, we're not going beyond them, so it's fine."

"You said that last time too!"

"Oh alright," Rea closed the book sadly, "Sorry Yuto, it seems our fun time has come to an end."

"That's alright mom." When Yuki walked out, they whispered something to each other, and Rea laughed loudly in glee at whatever it was Yuto said. A shiver went down her spine, She did NOT want to know what that was about.

* * *

Sitting on the toilet later, she was just reaching for the toilet paper when she remembered an entry in her Diary about being out. She sighed in frustration at her lack of foresight but blanched as the door opened a crack, Yuto's arm reaching inside with a roll of toilet paper.

"Here you go."

She smiled softly, "Thank you." She stood up and waddled over to the door to grab it when the door opened fully, revealing her bare lower half to him who blinked down at her in shock.

Yuki stood there speechless for a moment before she came back to her senses, "Ah! Get out! Get out get out get out!" She started beating at him with her fist to leave the room. She didn't think it had the right effect though as he merely laughed before she shut the door behind him with a click. She hurriedly locked it, something she had been too absentminded to do earlier.

As she sat back on the toilet, she tried to calm down her furiously beating heart as she sat there. A moment later, she blinked as she felt like she was being watched, her head spinning this way and that before she came to a proper conclusion. Glaring at nowhere in particular, she called out, "You know, it's a crime to peep on people going to the bathroom, Deus."

She could swear she heard a muffled curse and a crash as well as gut-wrenching laughter before it went silent again.

Later, the three present occupants of the house were seated in the living room, Yuto and Yuki on the couch with Rea in the chair.

"It doesn't surprise me. She's had a keen eye for other people's business since she was a little girl. As a matter of fact, a month ago... Oh, I almost forgot. My being here?" Her face lost its smile, which concerned Yuki. It was never a good thing when she stopped smiling, "Work's going to be paid leave for the next few days."

"Something the matter?"

"Well, uh... Have you kids by any chance been following the news about that nutty suicide cult?"

Yuki nodded her head awkwardly, "Yeah." What else was she supposed to say? Sorry mom, but your little girl was there when they were hacking each other to bits and nearly got raped?

"Well," Rea went on, unaware of her daughter's inner turmoil, "It turns out one of my coworkers was a member. He left behind a child, and the company wants me to look after it while they arrange things long-term."

"How old a kid are we talking about?" Yuto asked softly.

"Two or three, I believe," a smile blossomed on Rea's face, while Yuki thought about all the fun they could have. "It's a little boy. I offered to let him stay here for a few days." She put her mug down after taking a final sip, and stood up, stretching her arms above her with a yawn. "Best get ready for bed, Yuto. It's too late to let you walk home so you'll have to stay here."

"Thank you, you're so considerate."

"But mom, where would he sleep? We don't really have any available rooms."

A sly look overtook her, and suddenly Yuki wished she hadn't asked, "Why, your room of course, unless Yuto is uncomfortable with the idea."

"Not at all!"

She was in her room a few minutes later, looking for her spare futon when her mom came in. "Mom, where's my futon, I can't find it."

"Oh don't worry about that, it's all going according to plan."

"What was that, mom? I didn't hear that last part."

She waved her hand dismissively, "Oh it's nothing to worry about." Rea then smirked, "Have fun being stormed like a castle!"

"Mom? What are you talking about? Mom!" She didn't get a response as she closed the door upon leaving. The door then opened again, "And keep those legs closed til your married!"

Yuki threw her pillow at the quickly closing door, face alight with embarrassment.

She threw herself onto her bed, looking up at the picture of when her family was still whole, and suddenly the image of Yuto appeared next to her and before her dad, she blushed at the thought of being married to him. While not entirely unappealing she still had a hard time wrapping her head around the idea of being desired.

20 minutes later Yuto walked in with a towel around his neck, he looked around a bit before asking where he was sleeping.

"Um," she blushed prettily, "I know it's a tight fit, but would you sleep with me?" Her eyes widened as she realized what she said, and hastily waved her hands in the air, "N-not like that! I j-just meant...!" A warm hand covered her lips. She stopped and looked up at him.

"It's alright, I understood what you meant, and yes, that'd be lovely." She smiled before scooting over to make room for him. He turned out the light and climbed in, wrapping his arms around her as he did so. When she looked at him in confusion, he answered, "This way we have more room, yes?"

She buried her face in his chest and nodded, before trying to fall asleep, her quickly-beating heart thundering in her ears.

Minutes later, she still hadn't fallen asleep when Yuto spoke up, "Hey, are you going to put the moves on me or what?"

Yuki's eyes shot open as she stared in shock at him, "Wh-wh-where did that come from?"

"Your mom said it's okay to mess around."

She shook her head against his chest, "I know she likes to think I'm mature enough, but I-I'm not emotionally ready for that kind of thing. I love you, I really do, but it just doesn't feel like the right time, you understand?"

He stroked her hair, running it through his fingers as he kissed her forehead, "I understand completely. We can wait."

She smiled at him gratefully before closing her eyes. She was out seconds later.

* * *

In the morning, Yuki blinked her eyes tiredly as she heard voices outside.

She tried to sit up so she could look out the window but Yuto's arms around her tightened, drawing her head back to his chest, "Go back to sleep, Yuki."

"But mom's..."

"Sleep." He said firmly.

She sighed, "Fine, but I know I'm going to regret it."

She closed her eyes and fell asleep again, breathing softly into Yuto's shoulder after adjusting her head.

20 minutes later, the door to her room opened, and Rea's giggling woke her up again, and this time, Yuto didn't stop her from moving.

"Mom?"

"I see you two slept well. Ha."

She buried her head in Yuto's chest this time to hide her burning cheeks. She should have known that would be the first thing she said.

After regaining her composure, she looked over Yuto's shoulder to see a small form next to her mom.

"This is the fella I was telling you about," Rea said as she knelt beside him, "Hey, champ. Can you tell big brother and big sister your name?" she placed her hands on his shoulders encouragingly.

The two got out of bed to stand in front of the little boy.

He looked up at them with wide green eyes matched his hat. His orange hair still managed to frame his face it being so long. He had on an adorable pair of dark green overalls with a white shirt underneath.

"I'm Houjou Reisuke!" He held up a feminine puppet, "What do I call you, big sister?"

She bent over with a smile, "Hi there, sweetie. You can call me Yuki."

"And what do I call you, big brother?" a more masculine puppet was raised this time.

"My name's Yuto."

"Face hug!" He cheered as the two puppets embraced.

Rea rubbed his back affectionately, "Oh, the kid's good." She laughed brightly, bringing a smile to Yuki's face.

She reached down and picked him up, resting him on her hip, "So, was there anything you wanted to do?"

"Color!" He answered quickly, a wide smile on his face.

Yuki laughed, "Alright, I'll see what I can do. Let's go down to the family room to do it though, okay? That way there's more space."

"Okay."

And off they went.

* * *

POV Change: Yuto

As the others left the room, Yuto couldn't help the feeling of jealousy that overtook him when she instantly took to the kid. And something seemed off about everything. If things were like last time then... He shook his head. No, he wouldn't let it end the same way. Yuki loved him, and while he wished his First had accepted him as quickly he wouldn't complain. He had her now, and he would never let go.

They were seated around the little table in the living room, Houjou drawing enthusiastically on the paper with crayons.

Yuki leaned over the table to get a good look at it, "Whoa, look at you. Looks like someone's a drawing prodigy."

"What are you drawing?" Yuto asked politely, although he could care less. The brat was taking Yuki's attention away from him!

Rea looked at it next, "Wow, that looks like you, Yuki!"

"It's a picture of the woman I love!"

Yuto's eyes snapped down to the picture in question, and if glares could kill, it would have burned a thousand times over.

"Uh oh, looks like you have some competition, Yuto!"

He smiled at Rea, "I'm not too worried, Mrs. A."

Houjou then proceeded to cut the face out with scissors, leaving the face in a circle, then stood up.

"Aw, did you make that just for me? Thank you." Yuki said as the kid walked toward her quickly. He had a determined look in his eyes as he moved closer, before unexpectedly his foot slipped on the rug and he fell forward, the scissors in his hand moving in tandem with his fall, nearly stabbing the older older boy if not for a hastily positioned pillow getting in the way.

While Yuto laughed off the incident, and watching as Rea scolded him for running with scissors, he thought over the encounter, and concluded that, on top of wanting to off him for possibly killing his dad, the kid also wanted Yuki to himself, and so decided to get rid of him. But he was on to the little brat. No one could have Yuki but him! And he'd kill anyone who thought otherwise.

The little boy then went into the bathroom, calling himself a big boy in the most childish voice imaginable while Yuki fussed over him. He reassured her he was alright, but she kept glancing at him concernedly for the next couple hours until he finally agreed to let her check him over for wounds, which he soon found himself wishing he had agreed to sooner as she ran her hands over his chest, probing here and there in an attempt to find a scratch or a gouge.

When it was over he tugged her face up to his and kissed her, which she happily responded to. Oh yes, no worries at all. She was his forever and ever.

* * *

Aaaaand cut! As before, R&R, and all who flame will get tossed in the ocean to cool off. Critiques are one thing, insults are another. See you next week!


	7. Episode 7

A/N: And we're back for more! Sorry for being late, I was about to post this last night but got distracted. Welcome to the seventh part of this story. I hope you're all enjoying it thus far.

* * *

Episode 7:

Yuki, Rea, Houjou and Yuto were all seated around the dining table, just about to start eating dinner.

"Wow... Is it just me or is that a lot of food?"

"Eat some salad! I made it myself," Houjou said brightly.

"Our budding little sous chef was so eager to lend a hand," Rea gushed. She had made no secret how fond she was of the kid.

Rea's phone started ringing "Sorry gang, I have to take this."

In an attempt to fill the silence, Yuki asked Houjou a question. "So what brought you to our humble abode, little guy?"

"My mommy and daddy have to work late all the time. They wanted me to come stay here."

"Well that was very thoughtful of them," she said with a small smile.

She speared a tomato and was raising it to her mouth when Yuto stopped her.

"Wait, something's wrong. This tomato's heavier then when I washed it."

"Water retention?" She asked hesitantly.

"Don't be cute, I'm telling you I think something's wrong." He said as he began to pick up the salad bowls. "You shouldn't eat it. Better safe than sorry."

Yuki sighed, "I'm sorry, Houjou, I know you put a lot of work into that salad, but Yuto takes my health a bit more seriously than I do, and tends to overreact to things. Not that I'm complaining about that, of course, but it can get to be a bit much sometimes."

She checked her Diary to see how things were going, and her eyes widening as she read the words that confirmed Yuto's suspicions. The phone then crackled as the Diary changed to reflect the new future.

It seemed Yuto was able to change the future at a whim. She had never seen him bring out his Diary at any point during the meal.

When the meal was finished, Yuki was just about to get in the bathtub when the door opened, "Can I join you, big sister?"

Yukihana looked over at him with a smile, "Of course! Come on over big guy!" reached down and picked him up, then placed him on the stool to do the pre-washing, and then picked him up again and sat down in the tub, him nestled between her legs.

Throughout this he had a shocked expression on his face, as if he wasn't expecting her to do such a thing. She ran her hands through his hair, "I love your hair! It's the color of the setting sun, one of my favorite things to see."

The next half-hour was spent in their, her washing herself and Houjou. They even had a small splash fight.

"Come on, big guy, time to get out and dry off." And with that she got out of the tub and grabbed a couple towels, drying herself off before tying it around her, and doing the same for him.

When she opened the door, she was surprised to find Yuto standing there, a serious look on his face as he stared down at the kid holding Yuki's hand. "Yuto? Is something wrong?"

"Maybe," he said vaguely, his eyes never leaving Houjou, who got anxious and hid behind Yuki.

She glared at him, "Knock it off, Yuto, he's just a child. It's not like he was going to hurt me. Come on, Houjou, time for bed." And with that she left with him going to the room where Houjou would be sleeping while he was with them. But as she was about to open the door, he tugged on her hand.

"Big sis, can I sleep with you?" When she looked down, he had the most adorable look on his face that took all she had not to squeal. He looked away sheepishly, "Mama used to let me sleep with her when I was scared, and-and I..."

He was enveloped in her arms swiftly, "Shh, shh, it'll be alright. Sure, you can sleep with me. But only for tonight, alright? You are a big boy after all." When he nodded, she went a little further up and opened her bedroom door. As she changed into her pajamas, she looked at him with furrowed brows, "Houjou, don't you have pajamas too? Why don't you go them on and come back here. I'll have it all ready by then."

"Okay!"

He nearly skipped out of the room, earning a giggle from Yuki as she made her bed. Yuto walked in moments later, looking at his phone with a frown. "Is something wrong, Yuto?"

He looked at her then, eyes conveying something she couldn't quite grasp, "No, and I'll keep it that way." He turned to walk back out the door, but stopped when he felt Yuki's hand tugging at his shirt. "What is it, Yuki?"

She blushed, eyes looking everywhere but him as she fidgeted. She took a breath, "Um, you-you can call me Hana if you want. No one ever calls me it, not even my mom, and it would make me happy." She turned her face away after that, embarrassment written all over it. However, a single finger on her chin had her turn her face back to Yuto.

His face held a gentle smile, "Nothing would make me happier, my beloved Hana."

She smiled then, and threw her arms around him, before realizing what she did and attempting to back away, only for his arms to hold her tight to him. They stayed that way for a few minutes, just holding each other in silence when they heard footsteps down the hall. Then she remembered what she promised Houjou.

"Oh that's right. I'm sorry, Yuto but I promised Houjou that he could sleep with me tonight." At his disappointed face, she hastened to assure him, "It-it's just for tonight, I swear! But this is a new place for him and-and I know if I was in his shoes I'd be terrified so..."

He sighed, "It's okay, Yu-Hana," his quick correction lightening the mood once again, "I know how you feel about children." His interactions with her previous only reaffirmed it after watching her play with Houjou earlier.

Yuto walked out then, and seconds later Houjou walked in, his puppets in hand. "Alright, you ready for bed, big guy?" She asked as she knelt down in front of him.

He nodded, giving a sleepy yawn and she picked him up, carrying him over to the bed where she laid him down before getting in herself, drawing the blankets over them and turning off the lights. "Good night, Houjou."

"Good night, big sis Yuki."

And with that she was out.

POV Change: Houjou

It was baffling. Every attempt he made to kill them was foiled either through paranoia or overactive mothering. He was sure his ploy to electrocute her would work, but then she had to pick him up and start babying him. His cheeks puffed up in remembrance. Sure it had been nice to be taken care of, but it was still excessive. He wasn't a baby anymore!

And with that thought, he moved his puppet-covered hands up, each nodding determinedly as he held up the syringe filled with poison. He was moving to stab her with it when her arms wrapped around him, tugging his face to her chest and knocking the syringe out of his hands. He squawked at the action. Pulling his head out of her breasts with the primal need to breathe, he tried to find the syringe only to discover it had somehow slid under the pillow. He scowled.

"Don't frown, baby." He froze, was she still awake after all? Was it all a ploy to lower his guard? "Mama's got you safe in her arms, nothing is gonna happen to you while I'm here." He sighed quietly, that was close. He thought his heart would beat out of his chest how fast it was going. Still, those words brought a blush to his cheeks as he rested his head back on her chest, giving in to sleep. After all, he hadn't expected to be foiled by a sleeping girl with dreams of motherhood.

POV Change: Yuto (A/N: From now on, he will refer to Yuki as Hana, so don't be too surprised by the change)

Early in the morning

It took all he had not to carve the little bastard up. Yuto was watching through a crack in the door, and seethed at how affectionate his beloved Yuki... No, she wants to be called Hana now, was being with the brat. He had a moment of intense joy. She wanted him to call her something no one else did, something he alone could call her. He remembered her saying she loved him at the shrine, but hearing it again yesterday even made his heart soar.

Of course then he looked through the crack again and saw red when the little brat smirked at him. Smirked! He literally growled seeing the smug look on his face as he put his head back on her chest.

It seemed he would have to up his game.

A couple hours later found him grabbing a carving knife, swinging it experimentally before hiding it in his belt under his shirt.

Yuki was laughing as she watched Houjou and Rea intently playing a racing game, their taunts to each other far too amusing for her.

"You won't beat me, you old hag!"

"Oh yeah? Well eat my dust, half-pint!"

They only got more creative as the race went on, and when it ended, Rea offered her the controller, but she shook her head quickly.

"No, mom. You know I'm terrible at these types of games."

"Well then how about I put in a fighting game? I know you like those."

An unholy gleam came into her eyes. She looked at Houjou, "I hope your ready to lose, brat, cause your time has come." The cackle that came from her lips next inspired Rea to join in, shocking the small boy at how competitive the Amano's were.

Surprisingly, Houjou actually managed to hold his own for a while, but eventually he succumbed to the force of nature named Yukihana Amano. What? Did you expect someone who's mom designs games to _not_ know how to play them?

"Ha! Take that pipsqueak! Ain't nobody gonna beat me in this house!" She cried out, uncaring about about good sportsmanship in her drive to dominate. Yuto found himself liking this side of her. The only downside being that the brat didn't cry.

Later, Hana was out gardening when Yuto decided now was the time to make his move. Yuki had needed the carving knife to cut something so he had to relinquish it (without her knowing why he had it). He then came across some hammers that he decided would do the trick and took off after the midget like a dog after a bone.

"Guess there's no point in pretending anymore, is there?" the kid said before running under the table in the kitchen, the bang of the hammer colliding with it and the subsequent jumping over caused some dishes to fall off and break on the floor, whereupon he continued chasing after it.

Rea apparently heard the racket as while they were running down the hall, she opened her door just as he was bringing his hammer down, whereby it hit her on the back of the head. She dropped like a stone to the floor, a small trickle of blood appearing at the impact point dampening her hair.

Hana then tended to her, having wrapped her head in bandages and laying her on her bed. Yuto cursed his hasty actions. If he had been more careful, mama Rea wouldn't have been hurt! She was too kind to be caught up in this whole mess (not that he didn't think Hana wasn't kind either, but he would never begrudge a system that brought them closer together).

POV Change: Normal

"I'm so sorry, Hana! I didn't mean for this to happen." The heartbreak in his voice soothed her slightly as it told her it wasn't intentional, but that didn't mean Yuki was entirely over it.

She hugged him, rocking him back and forth to calm him down. Then she began her interrogation.

"What drove you to do such a thing in the first place? There's no one here except for us, mom and Houjou. Unless there's something you aren't telling me?"

He wouldn't meet her eyes, shaking his head in lieu of answering. She sighed, "Alright, I just hope you know what you're doing."

Well that didn't last long, so much for answers.

She later found him face first on top of the kitchen table, and she panicked, "Oh, please oh please don't be dead!" She ran forward, intending to check his pulse when he popped up at the sound of the doorbell ringing.

"That's it!"

Confused, but shrugging it off as a male thing, she went to answer the door, slightly surprised to see Houjou already there.

"Hello Haruto!" Yuki said brightly, "What do you have for me today?"

"Ah, right here." He held out the envelope in his hand.

Blinking slightly in surprise, she nodded and accepted it, signing off that it was received. The door closed shortly after.

 _I wonder what this is? Mom is home right now, unless she sent this before she knew she'd be coming home early?_

First ripped off the top to see what was inside only to start coughing as gas poured out. "Houjou get out of here!" And the she collapsed in a faint, dead to the world around her.

POV Change: Houjou

 _I can't believe that worked! How stupid was this bint to fall for that?_ Then again she apparently gets mail deliveries all the time due to her mom's work, seeing as she was on a first name basis with the delivery man. _Ah whatever, it still worked._ Now all that's left is to get rid of Pinkie and there'll be two less Diary holders to deal with _._ He made sure his gas-mask was in place as the cloud moved up the stairs and down the halls.

If things kept going like they had been, he'll be the new god in no time! Of course, he'll have to find a way around that whole 'destroy the Diary, kill the holder' thing as he found himself quite fond of Yuki, and Rea wasn't such a bad substitute mom either. The fact that the last thing Yuki said was in concern for him was quite touching. He'd have to think up an excuse for why she collapsed later. But Pinkie still had to go! He was getting in the way of his victory.

_  
POV Change: Yuto

He had dragged Hana into the bathroom on the first floor and locked the door behind him. He checked her pulse and while it was slow, he did find it. He breathed a sigh of relief. Yuto didn't know what he'd do if she died. Probably go on a killing spree and start this all over again like last time, but eh, details.

Small fists pounded on the door, drawing his attention away from his sleeping beauty.

"Come out and play! We both know we're probably going to go at each other like animals." Yuto glared at the door in anger, the shaking form of Hana driving him to near solar-levels of rage.

"You want revenge, right? I'm probably the one who killed your parents. In fact I'm sure of it. So if you want it take me and leave her alone."

"I don't care about that, all I want is victory. So how about I up the ante a little. You beat me and you get a prize. The antidote." Yuto's eyes were staring so intently at the door it almost made holes. "We'll keep this simple and treat it like hide 'n seek. Find me and you'll save your pretty girlfriend. Let the gas overcome you, well, I'll be the winner."

"You'd let Ms. Amano die just to get at us?"

"I'm not a monster, I'm hardly going to let Ms. Amano suffer because of you two. So are we on or what? Just remember: breath shallow or this stuff will do nasty things to your insides. And go!"

He started to move toward the door, but his hand was tugged backward by a comatose Yuki, "Don't go, daddy." He froze. The sheer heartbreak in those three words nearly breaking him. "I'll be a good girl, you can do whatever you want just please don't go!"

Yuto felt sick. So that was why they divorced. Well, he could hardly blame Rea for that. What kind of sick man did that to his own daughter? He suddenly felt a new respect for the mother who was clearly better than his own had been.

He grabbed her hand, gently laying it on her stomach to make for easier resting, and cupped her cheek, "Wish me well, my love." He kissed her before taking a rolled up towel and placing it under her head. It was the best he could do at the moment, but he'd be damned if he'd leave this room before making her as comfortable as possible.

And, after grabbing a cloth to cover his mouth, he was out in the hallway, closing the door behind her.

Running around, he came across the kitchen and grabbed the carving knife. He wouldn't be returning it for a while this time. Moving into the living room, he tugged at the window only to find all of them taped shut. So, grabbing a vase, he broke it, and popped his head outside, breathing deeply.

"Doing good, big bro. But how long can you last?"

He came to the next room and nearly took a step inside when he looked down, noticing the floor was covered in tacks.

"How long can you hold your breath? Or is that a moot point?"

"Not on the first floor, so that means..."

Water began to flow down the stairs.

"Uh oh, looks like I'm it!" His hand moved, revealing an electric lamp. "Look at what I have here."

Crap!

The hand dropped it, but Yuto was a touch faster, leaping over the rails to the first floor, deftly avoiding the shock.

"Dammit! Just what are you? A circus freak?"

"Explain something to me, after slaughtering so many people, why go such lengths protecting First?"

"A child like you could never understand the love I hold for her."

"Well, it's not like it'll matter for much longer. But don't worry, I'll take _good_ care of her for you. Eep!" Fifth squeaked through his gas-mask as he beheld a look of pure unbridled fury on Yuto's face and promptly took off in the opposite direction, temporarily forgetting his high ground advantage in his haste to get away from the ball of rage that was named Yuto Gasai.

It took a bit of work as Yuto scaled the railing to get to the second floor, but he made it there in record time before he began his hunt for the little corpse that dared think he could ever have a chance with his Yukihana. He didn't care anymore about keeping up appearances, since both the woman he cared about were unconscious and away from the fighting, although he was unaware where Rea was at the moment, he had a feeling the brat was telling the truth that she was safe.

In the end, the chase was rather anti-climactic. Houjou didn't really have anywhere he could run to that Yuto couldn't find him, and while the older boy knew this would hurt Yuki, it had to be done.

The kid was backed up against the wall by Yuki's room as Yuto stood over him, knife raised. "You don't understand true love, don't you?"

"Guess not," the kid sighed in response.

The knife entered with a schlick.

"You... are one cool dude." The child would-be killer said as he held up the antidote. "Don't worry, it's real. It's too late to pull a fast one on you now. Still though, is it worth it? The more you win, the closer you get to what's shaping up to be an ugly stalemate. Eventually there'll be no one left to kill but her. And then where will you be? You're going to protect the woman you love from yourself? How is that supposed to work? What will your love be worth at the moment of truth?" Yuto pursed his lips, his eyes hooded. "Heh, sorry I won't be around to see it. Congratulations," Houjou Reisuke said finally as he was finally sucked into the hole that appeared in his center, and then he was gone, his Diary falling to the floor, proclaiming his death at Yuto's hands and his subsequent Dead End.

"I don't give a damn, I'll protect my woman from whoever the hell I got to."

 _Hang in there, baby. The antidote's coming._

His vision blurring, he made his way downstairs on shaking feet, collapsing in front of the bathroom door.

A familiar voice sounded above him as he lost consciousness, but the words didn't seem to be for him.

"A word of advice, kid. Kill him. There's only one winner to this game so just deal with it. Push comes to shove, mercy won't factor in to how _he_ deals with _you_."

It pained him not being able to move, even as his grasp of reality slipped through his fingers like sand. How dare she try and influence his dear Hana? But it all faded to darkness soon after, and he was unaware of how that same voice hefted both him and Yuki out of the house, leaving them on the doorstep and injecting them with the cure.

* * *

And done! As usual, R&R, and flamers will be tossed into the ocean.


	8. Episode 8

A/N: Hi everybody! Sorry for being late again, yesterday was awful. No, seriously. Rapid snowfall, Trimet experiencing major delays (meaning I was experiencing major delays) and looooooong shuttle rides to finally get where I needed to go just wiped me. I hope to make better time next week. In the meanwhile, here's chapter 8.

* * *

Episode 8:

As far as any one is concerned, Yuto whacked mom over the head on accident while chasing own an intruder. And Houjou disappeared during all the commotion afterwards. Okay maybe we twisted the truth a little bit but we didn't tell an outright lie. Not one Kurusu's wise to, anyway.

She was walking along the sidewalk to her new school when she saw a sign that read 'Beware of purse snatchers'. Seeing as her new school didn't have a school uniform she was allowed to wear whatever, and so she had put on a white sweater with a red scarf around her neck and a black skirt. The top of her head was covered by her favorite black beanie.

A voice called out, "Hi, love. I really like your outfit today, it's quite cute."

She whirled around, clutching at her chest after nearly screaming, "Yuto! Don't scare me like that!"

Yuto chuckled at her reaction, walking over and ruffling her beanie-covered head.

They started walking together, Yuki bringing out her phone and checking her Diary. It didn't look like today would be a good day. "Just great. I suck at making friends and I bet Kousaka will just make things worse for me."

"I'm sure you've already thought of this, but you can pretty much assume that school and your phone aren't going to mix. I would put it away before doing anything today. After all, that is how you almost screwed things up with Third. Although you did confuse everyone for a bit there."

"Okay, I can manage without it. Not like it's been much use to me lately anyway."

As they continued walking to school, she felt like someone was watching her and looked around, spotting a figure on the opposite side of the street. It was a silver-haired teen with reddish eyes. He was handsome, she supposed, but not quite her type.

Yuto kept walking, "As far as making new friends, who needs them, right? You've still got me. We'll be in different classes, but that doesn't matter." He turned around to face her. "What is it sweety? Scared?"

"Oh, someone's staring. Right over... there?" She pointed over where the teen was, but during the brief time she looked away he disappeared. "Hmm, that's odd."

"Who was?"

"I don't know, but I might see him at school, he looked around our age at any rate."

"Promise me that we'll walk home together. I'll wait for you in the courtyard, okay?"

Yuki smiled brightly, "Okay, I'll see you after school." She hugged him then, surprising the pinkette for a moment before he returned it.

"Everything will be alright, just you wait and see."

* * *

In her new classroom, she peeked in through the door. The last time she had been in a class with new people it had all been ruined because Kousaka decided she didn't deserve friends and so started spreading lies about her to everyone. And according to her Diary, he was going to do it again. She had little hopes for this class.

Sighing, she walked in slowly, doing her best not to draw attention to herself as she went to an empty seat in the back of the room. And sure enough, just as she was putting her bag down, Kousaka started laughing.

"What a loser. Did you think no one would notice you dressed like that?"

"Long time no see, Yuki. How's the world been treating you?"

"Better after you almost got me killed." She said shortly. The chatter in the room died right then. Kousaka's eyes widened. "What? Did you think I wouldn't remember when you dragged me in front of that terrorist and left me to die? Did you think I would forget how you dragged me down the stairs of the school and held me down as she shouted how I'd die a gruesome death? Or how about when a part of the school exploded you turned tail and ran, leaving me there on the ground uncaring if I survived or not? Did you really think I'd forget something like that?" Yuki's voice rose louder and louder as she went on, drawing spectators. She was huffing at the end, eyes narrowed to slits and fists clenched so tightly blood wasn't circulating. Kousaka was pale at this point.

Then the watchers started talking again, although they weren't talking to each other.

"Wow, that's pretty lame, man."

"How could you leave a girl to die like that? What a poser."

"Wonder if that's what he'd do if he was attacked on a date."

"I watched some of it on T.V., man. That was messed up. I don't care if you don't like them, nobody deserves to die like that."

They kept going, piling insults onto the once-superior Kousaka. Yuki collapsed in her seat, utterly spent after that rant.

A few minutes later, class had started. She was introduced to the two girls sitting to her right, one immediately beside her and the other to that girls right. The one on the far right was Mao, who had light-purple hair and a classic school uniform on, along with a white beret with a red ribbon tied around it. The one to Yuki's right was Hinata, a rough-and-though girl who had short brown hair with a couple strands hanging down the front wearing blue shorts and a pink and blue crop top.

The teacher was going over the new safety regulations that were in place. Telling them to walk home in groups with people who live in the same direction.

"Murders?"

"Don't you watch the news, twerp?" Kousaka seemed to have bounced back, "Bunch of people were totally slaughtered in this neighborhood the past couple weeks."

 _But Third's dead, so who could be doing it?_

Hinata leaned forward, an eager look on her face, "They say the victims died horribly. As if they had been attacked by werewolves, not even the families could identify the bodies they were so torn up and bloody. We're talking teeth marks and scratches, the whole bit."

"Teeth marks, huh? Wouldn't forensics have a field day with something like that?"

She crossed her arms behind her head, "You've got a point."

"Yeah well I heard the police are withholding all kinds of details to keep the public from panicking. Then again," she put her finger to her lip and looked down for a moment, "I really out to run that by Akise to see if there's any truth to it."

"Who's Akise?"

"Ah, that guy. Take a look at the empty desk on your left. That's the assigned seat of our classes biggest head case. It's vacant right now cause he's probably ditching to play private eye." "Boom-boom. Hey, I have an awesome idea so just hear me out."

Yuki wasn't so sure she liked where this was going. She enjoyed a good mystery novel, sure, but that didn't mean she wanted to act one out!

They were walking out of school, Mao and Hinata chatting when she noticed her favorite person (bar mother) waving at her near the gates.

"Hana!"

"Yuto!"

They ran at each other and he enveloped her in a hug. Sure, they'd seen each other at lunch, but they hadn't been apart for this long in a long time, so they had slight separation anxiety.

Hinata had a sly look on her face, "Who's this, Yuki? Is he your boyfriend?"

She blushed as she leapt out of his arms, refusing to look at anyone as she toed the ground. The thought had occurred to her before, but whenever she thought about asking, something happened that forced it from her mind.

Hinata and Mao chuckled. The brunette waved her hand, "Well anyway, I think we'd better get going."

Yuki looked at Yuto nervously. Obviously remembering his words from that morning about not needing friends. And she still remembered how quickly those at her old school turned on her.

And so, choosing to outright ignore the blunt brunette, looked at Yuto and asked, "What should I do, Yuto?"

Hinata obviously didn't like being ignored, "Oi, what is he, your owner? You can make your own decisions."

Yuto had a blank face as he looked down at her, Yuki's eyes imploring him to tell her what to do. He sighed, "You can go with them if that's what you want to do." He tried not to sound upset about it, but it still leaked through.

As was shown when she latched on to his arm, "We promised to walk home together, didn't we?" The slight panic in her voice at being separated only driving her to be closer. Not that he seemed to be objecting, mind you.

Of course, after Mao heard him give his permission to go, she pulled Yuki away, the black-haired girl's arms tugging frantically in an attempt to get away from the apparently physically superior girl's grip to no avail.

She looked sadly at Yuto as she was dragged off, the group headed in the direction of the site of the latest victim. Fortunately (for Yuki that is), Yuto decided to tag along. Unfortunately (also for her), Kousaka did too.

Hinata had went on ahead, and the other four trailed behind on the path.

Her phone crackled in her pocket, and she froze, her head turning to Yuto who was walking beside her in a flash, "The future's changed!"

The pinkette hurriedly began looking around, having come to the same conclusion she had that another Diary user was nearby, which certainly didn't bode well for them as they had no idea where they could be.

"What do we do?" She whispered worriedly, "The others will get caught in the crossfire!"

She started to pull out her phone to call Kurusu when Yuto grabbed her hand, halting her dialing. "No, we need to get as far away from here as possible."

"But what about..."

"If they have nothing to do with this they'll be fine, but we're the most likely targets. We're leaving." He turned to face Mao and Kousaka, "Sorry about this, but I need to take Hana home. Her mother was injured recently and she is very worried about her."

Mao looked sad, but nodded. Kousaka scoffed, sneering at her, "What, running away? Afraid of a dead body?"

She stiffened at the mocking words, images flowing into her head. Yuto placed a hand on her head, rubbing it gently, "Scum like you could never begin to understand my Hana."

They started to move away when Yuto smelled something. His head turned so fast Yuki nearly got whiplash. The sight before her had her bringing her hands to her mouth in horror. It was a severed hand, and just beyond it... Hinata's mangled body.

"No!"

As if waiting for them to speak, a large mouth appeared out of the underbrush, followed quickly by a body. The head was hellish in appearance, a row of teeth so sharp they looked like they could grind rocks to dust with a single bite.

"This is a joke, right?"

"Need a hand?" Everyone turned at the sound of the new voice, and Yuki's eyes widened as she recognized him as the teen from that morning, which she quickly pointed out to Yuto, who narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.

He had slightly-messy silver hair and red eyes, wearing dark-gray slacks and a white shirt and black tie along with a grayish-blue overcoat.

"Who's there? Akise? How long have you been there?"

"Longer than you, to go by your panting." Let's not stand on ceremony just now, alright? If you don't accept my help, you're dead meat." He came to a stop right next to Yuki.

"Unless you fancy being doggy kibble, the thing is to get out of here before sundown. The question is how." Akise looked at Yuki softly, "Don't take this wrong, but your shaking is adorable." He reached out a hand to touch her cheek, but Yuto was quick to move her out of the way, not being close enough to grab his hand.

"Don't touch her."

"What a scary face your making. I'm frightened." Contrary to his words, his face remained impassive.

At that moment, a large number of dogs appeared from the bushes, each black and each with a mechanical jaw. Their eyes all black as night as they advanced on the group of five.

"There's an observation deck just up the way. We should make a break for it." Akise said pointing toward it.

Of course, at that moment he began to move quicker than Yuto could anticipate and ran past them, snagging Yuki's arm and dragging her behind him in a dead sprint.

"Watch it! She's not your damn partner."

"Now's not the time for jealousy."

All Yuki could do was run behind the silver teen as she tried to figure out what was going on, _Does he... like me? But I've never even seen him before today._

Time passed in a blur, and soon they were inside, slamming the door behind them as they collapsed as tired bundles of bones on the floor, their nerves shot.

"Going to be alright, Yuki? You look exhausted."

Feeling slightly creeped out that this kid she had never met before knew her name and was being extra-affectionate with her, she edged closer to Yuto who apparently empathized, as he wrapped an arm around her possessively.

"Oh sweetie," he said as he rested his chin on her head, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"So... Is there a part B to this plan, or what?"

"We're safe for right now. At least I think so."

"Let's have a proper introduction this time." For some reason, the silverette didn't seem concerned about the large pack of murderous dogs outside as he walked over to them, "My name's Aru Akise. My dream is to be a world-famous detective some day."

"Oh, um... I'm..." But she was cut off.

"Yukihana Amano. I know. Look, if I came off a bit strong there it's just my way of saying I've been keeping tabs on you." Yuto scowled at this. Akise smirked, "C'mon, a guy's gotta do what he can to make himself interesting. I'm an information junkie of sorts. The murders around your old school. The bombings that shut it down. And the Omekata cult. I've been following them all closely. It seems to me that they all have a common denominator: you. This is, and please don't take this the wrong way, anybody with that kind of screwed up luck has to be hiding something."

 _Does he know? Does he know about the Diaries?_ She thought in a panic. Yuto rubbed her back comfortingly.

"And what's it to you if she is? Everybody is hiding something, so unless you're willing to tell us what YOU are hiding I suggest you back off.

He waved his hand dismissively, "You have my solemn oath I'm not trying to be a creeper. It's not like I think you're the evil architect behind all this." He point at the window, where Yuki looked and stepped back further into Yuto's embrace with a squeak upon seeing the dogs pawing at the windows harshly.

"I know a bloodthirsty madman's target when I see one. Believe it or not, my whole reason for keeping an eye on you was in an effort to spare you from more of the same."

He held up her beanie in offering, and she patted her head quickly only to realize it had fallen off some time ago, although she could have sworn she had it on when she entered the building. Yuto snatched it out of his hands before gently placing it on her head, the disparity between the two action somewhat baffled the onlookers, but Akise remained aloof. That smile never leaving his face as he looked at her.

"Are you really out to her her?" Yuto asked in the silence, letting go of Yuki as he moved, a strange smile on his face/ "No offense, but we should really consider the situation we're in. Whoever's controlling the dogs has got to be close by. Meaning for all we know they're hiding somewhere in here, waiting for the right moment to strike. Maybe it's the photog girl," he said pointing at Mao who gasped. "Maybe it's the jerk." He pointed at Kousaka next.

"Don't even try to pin this on me." aforementioned jerk refuted, panic clear in tone.

"Or it could be the pervert who was kind enough to lead us here."

Now, Yuki would have said something at this point, but she was admittedly still creeped out by her new stalker.

Further discussion was halted as a scratching sound could be heard, followed by barks as a dog's head appeared in the empty space between two windows due to somehow moving one open slightly.

"They're getting in!"

"Ah!"

"This is messed up! How are we supposed to not die?"

"I don't like this. If they attack en masse..."

"If they all go for the windows simultaneously, there's not enough of us to keep them all blocked!"

"You know, you'd stand a pretty good chance of getting out of here if you used them as decoys." Everyone looked shocked at Yuto's cold suggestion. "After all, one of them is probably trying to kill you."

"Argh! To hell with this crap, and to hell with the two of you!"

This is bad, they're almost in! And if I don't help, we're all doggy chow!

She looked at Yuto sadly, "I'm sorry, but I could never live with myself if I let them die when I could do something about it."

He looked to protest, but then smiled sadly, "I know. I just want to keep you safe."

She hugged him, resting her head on his chest before stepping back, "I know, and I appreciate it, but this is something I have to do."

Turning around, she called out, "Kousaka, two windows to your right, move!"

Kousaka turned his head in confusion, "Wah?"

She snapped, "If you want to live, do what I say!"

Hearing a normally submissive girl yell angrily shocked them into motion, Kousaka moving to the window.

"Somebody block the window 3 to the left of the entrance!"

Akise leapt into action, "Gotcha. I'm all over it."

"Mao, the window to your left!"

"Got it!"

All the while Akise looked on, his face showing no surprise as he beheld her with her phone opened.

"Yuto, the one to your left!"

"On it!"

And that was how it went, the dogs would charge and Yuki would rebuff them with her Indiscriminate Diary.

Later in the evening, she was relieved to read that the dogs were giving up.

"Hellz yeah!" Kousaka cried out in triumph.

She was startled when he threw an arm over her shoulder, "That's some serious magic you're working with. Hey, you should be on the Tube! Everyone and their dog will want a piece of this mind-freak! Ha! I can totally be your manager!"

Naturally before she could respond Yuto dragged Kousaka off her, hugging her protectively.

The track club member looked at her with confusion as a thought came to him. "So what's the deal with your phone? You keep staring at it."

"It... Um... I..." she tried to come up with a way out of this, not having expected him to be observant enough to notice.

"Yuki has always been observant." Yuto cut in. "She might not seem it, but she has always paid attention to her surroundings, more so than most. In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to say it has given her a sixth sense for when something is about to happen around her."

Kousaka looked at her intently, causing sweat to break out, before turning away with a sigh. "Yeah, I can believe that. And she's always had her face in her phone anyways, even before all the crazy stuff at school happened."

It was then that Mao moved.

With a speed none thought possible, she snatched Yuki from Yuto's arms and pulled her back toward the entrance, placing a knife at her neck.

"You don't mind if I borrow this, do you? What the... Where is it?" She reached down to Yuki's hand, trying to take her Diary, but it wasn't there. She looked up and scowled when she saw Yuto holding it with confusion that swiftly changed to pride as he realized what she had done.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice that you were never truly afraid, Mao? I mean, I get scared all the time, did you think I wouldn't be able to recognize when someone was faking it?"

Clapping could be heard as a door was pushed open, a shadowing form walking into the moonlit observatory. Yuki's eyes widened in shock that quickly became resignation. "Very good, Amano. I admit, I almost didn't suspect you for a while there, and Gasai's explanation nearly made me stop too. But then Kousaka said the most interesting thing. You're a Diary user. A subtle one, which is surprising I must say, but a Diary user all the same. But don't worry, I'm not here for you. The Diary I'm after is the detective's!" Her finger pointed right at Akise.

The only thing he did was smile.

* * *

Annnnd cut! Tell me what you think, but beware flamers, I will post what you write and publicly laugh at you. Until next time!


	9. Episode 9

A/N: And here we are for the ninth addition to A Change in Circumstances, thanks for sticking around long enough to read it. As you can tell, this one isn't quite as long as previous chapters, but this is about as short as it's gonna get.

* * *

Episode 9:

"Give me what I want and we're cool. And don't try to play innocent, freak. I'm on to you." Hinata's eyes were glaring at the silver-haired teen.

"And you never thought he could just be an exceptionally nosy person?"

"Of course not." She scoffed, "He knows way too much to be anything else. No... You know what? I staged my grisly death so the pack of us could come out of this a little closer. Fact is, his Diary's got a blind spot when it comes to the dearly departed."

"So you used us just to draw out Akise?"

"Sorry pumpkin, you were the perfect bait. He's been on to you for weeks. C'mon, you can't blame a girl for stacking up her advantages. Don't be like that. You barely know me. Bad enough you had to chuck a monkey wrench into my plan."

"You used me." she whispered softly, tears in her eyes.

"Fine, you can have it." Akise's voice was eerily calm, "But please indulge me for a second," he said as he put his phone back in his jacket. He pulled out a coin and flipped it into the air, looking up at it as it spun. As it came back down, his hands blurred, grabbing the coin out of the air before he placed them both before him, closed. "Guess which hand."

Everyone stared at him. Some in confusion (Kousaka), some in rage (Yuto and Hinata) and others in shock (Mao and Yuki).

"So, you have your Diary and I have mine. Makes it fair. Of course, if you had Amano's diary, this would be easier for you, but since that's not happening ("Damn right it's not" Yuto growled) we'll do it this way. My Diary for Amano." He tossed the coin to Hinata, and she caught it with her free hand. "A preliminary toss."

The phone crackled in Yuto's hand, and he looked at it, eyes narrowing when he finished.

He made to move to say something to Akise, but Yuki shook her head. While she would like to help him (her life was on the line after all) there was no way to know if Hinata wouldn't have Mao slit her throat if they tried to interfere.

Of course, Hinata quite grasp the gesture, but still didn't seem concerned. Sure it seemed like it was in her right, but it was actually in her left.

Yuto glared at Akise. If he dared to get it wrong...

"Don't sweat about it. My Diary is kind of a stickler for details." His smile never left his face as he looked down at his phone, "It's in your left."

She cursed. It looked like this wasn't gong to be easy.

"Alright, let's play for keeps." She tossed the coin back to him.

He threw it up and just as before held it out before him, "Where oh where has my little coin gone?" he sang mockingly.

"It's in your right!"

Both the Diaries crackled in Yuto's hands as Akise opened both to show neither held the coin, "No points this round." Yuto frowned at the development, "Them's the break, chickadee. Hand her over."

"Not so fast." Mao tightened her hold on Yuki, the blade drawing closer to her neck as she pulled the black-haired girl's head back to reveal more of her throat. "I agreed to your little game. No reason it has to end after one round."

"Fine." He scowled, "But first you have to agree that this is the final round. No point dragging this on longer than..." He was then thrown to the ground as Yuto knelt on his chest, his knee digging in.

"Yuto?!" She asked before silencing herself, the cool steel of the blade touching her throat reminding her where she was.

He held his own knife to Akise's neck, "What's your number?" He asked coldly. "You have to think long-term, Hana." He looked at the phone she grabbed from Akise, "There's not a single damn thing written in here."

"What!"

"Now that you mention it, I don't remember hearing his voice at the meeting..."

"You're not a Diary user."

It was then that Akise began laughing hysterically, "Sure I may have lied a little. Everyone was so adamant on me having a Diary I just kind of got caught up in the spirit of things, you know? It was infectious." Humor tinged every word he spoke.

"But you won twice in a row!" Hinata scowled.

"Sheer luck. Good news for us though; it made you doubt yourself long enough to turn the tide in our favor. That's what this is about, right? Why'd you have to go and spoil our lead?"

Yuto raised the knife once more, "You make it sound as though you risked Hana's life to test a hypothesis. Game over!" He started to bring the knife down, but Akise turned the tables, rising to his feet and dragging Yuto to the ground in the same motion, holding on to the arm with the knife.

"Sorry. There's some life in the game yet, I fancy. Hinata wants me dead because I know daddy dearest's dirty little secret. So I have what you might call an honest incentive to keep vying for Amano. Now let's start playing and be done with it."

"Let's do it. I want to see what you've got. It goes without saying that the stakes are different now, though. You win, you get Amano. I win, you become chew toys. Regardless of what happens though, I'm letting Amano live."

"W-why?" She managed.

"Well, sweetie, you haven't managed to piss me off like they have."

Confused, but unable to say more due to the knife digging in to her neck, she looked over at Yuto forlornly. He had gotten back to his feet after Akise let him go. He seemed less tense though after Hinata's announcement.

"Are you crazy, Hinata? The whole point of this was to keep the skeletons in your closet locked up!"

"Come on, Mao. We always knew this was a long shot." She looked like she wanted to say more, but stopped herself.

Mao smiled, "You had to know I wouldn't be leaving here without you."

Hinata sighed resignedly, "Yeah, I figured that out for myself."

"Now wait just a minute!" Their attention was drawn to the men on the other side of the room as Yuto yelled at Akise angrily.

Said-teen didn't seem fazed by the outcry as he moved forward. "Let's get this started, shall we?"

"I'll make this fast. Watch carefully!" Her hands blurred before returning to the familiar position. "Right hand or left?"

"Right."

"But how?" Hinata didn't understand. He didn't have a Diary, so how did he know?

"You are far too easy to read, my dear."

At that moment, Yuto dashed forward, knife in hand. Mao let go of Yuki then, rushing forward to intercept. A puddle of blood formed below her as Yuto's dagger penetrated her side.

Of course, by this point Yuki came to a realization: _That's not her Diary, it's her father's!_

Hinata pushed Yuto away, who quickly moved to grab Yuki and pull her away from the two. The brunette knelt on the floor, cradling Mao's head on her lap.

"You people... It's not enough my dad's head is on the chopping block. Now you've got to take away my only friend in the entire world?"

Yuki didn't know what to do. The only friend she'd ever had was Yuto and that wasn't exactly what one would call normal. A hand rested on her shoulder, drawing her gaze up to Akise.

"Come on. Now's not the time to let her play on your sympathies."

Yuto, not in the mood to stick around anymore, picked her up bridle-style, only getting a token "I can still walk" in response, as she was too exhausted to truly protest the action. Yuto only tightened his hold on her, not bothering to say a thing as he opened the door and walked outside, Akise trailing behind them. Hinata didn't make a move to stop them. At that point Kousaka came out of wherever he was hiding and ran out the door, skirting around the two girls with an awkward look on his face.

As they were running back to town, a howl broke through the stillness of the night.

"Oh crap, did you hear that? We're all going to be eaten!" And as usual Kousaka wasted no time panicking.

Yuki looked at the phone in her hand. She was being carried on Yuto's back as she was too tired to run by herself. Yuto looked down at it as well, cursing at the last entry.

Yuki remembered a conversation she had with Kurusu a while back about Tenth. She still found it hard to believe that he wanted to bow out of the survival game (although if it was possible she knew she'd jump ship in a heartbeat). But that he'd involve his own daughter in this whole mess was sickening.

"Yuto, let me down."

He stopped running. "What's wrong, Hana?"

She shook her head, "We're never going to outrun them, especially not with me slowing you down. Maybe if I go back I can convince her to stop all this."

Akise seemed to be all for it. "Best be off then. But how about we run off and act as decoys so you can get there without a teeth mark on you?"

"Hey! Don't go volunteering me!" Kousaka shouted. Of course, he didn't actually say no...

"Of course, I am in better shape than Yuto is, so why don't I carry her?" When Yuto responded by tightening his grip and glaring, he held up his hands in surrender, "Alright alright, it was just a joke. No need to act so defensive."

 _That was a joke? It sure didn't sound funny._

The two boys raced off, and Yuto ran in the opposite direction, Yuki still riding on his back.

As they were running through the woods, Yuki remembered all the times she had been forced to watch as others played, never being invited. She had even been propositioned, although they gave that up for some reason after a little while. Which also ended around the time most of the false invitations stopped, too. She never did find out why.

"I don't want to go back to being an outsider!"

"Now's not the time for that!"

She suddenly found herself on the ground as Yuto dashed forward, driving a knife into a demon dog that leap from the bushes.

"Remember, sweetheart, you'll never be an outsider as long as I'm around. I'm the only one you need."

"But-but I've never had real friends before! Am I not worthy of that luxury?"

He crouched down in front of her, "Of course you are. But these ones have all tried to get you killed."

"But I've never had a female friend before! None of them have ever cared about me, always laughing and mocking and-and... I can't let things end like this!" tears broke out anew as she sat on the ground. Too tired to move but knowing she couldn't leave things as they were.

Yuto hugged her, resting her face in his shoulder, "I'm sorry for making you cry, Hana. I just want what's best for you." His phone crackled. Pulling it out, he scowled as he read the latest entry. "Fine, if a friend's what you want, then a friend's what you'll get."

Yuki didn't know what he read, but it seemed his Diary was on her side this time. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't thank me yet."

She got on his back again, and off he went.

He leapt over steps and guardrails as he ran, his feet beating a furious tempo as he crossed the land quickly, and in no time at all they were back at the observatory where they spotted the lone figure of Hinata sitting on the stairs.

The possessor of Tenth's Diary stood up quickly, calling for more dogs.

Once again she found herself on the ground as Yuto moved. Overtaking the girl before she could react and threatening her with his knife, "Call them off or I slit your throat."

"Alpha One stand down. I repeat, stand down!" The girl cried out in panic.

"Now hand over the Diary."

"No, please!"

"You want to die, bitch?"

"Let go of me!"

"Yuto stop!"

He looked her where she sat on the cement, "She's the enemy."

"All we need is the Diary, you don't have to take it this far."

"She tried to kill you!"

"And you said I could have a friend!"

"But what if you decide you like her better than me and leave me alone? Life wouldn't be worth living anymore."

Akise and Kousaka appeared then, along with all the dogs that Hinata had recalled.

I get it now, I just hope he'll forgive me for this. She turned around from where she was sitting, looking at Akise and Kousaka, "I would like to introduce you all to someone very special to me. This is Yuto Gasai. My *gulp* b-boyfriend." There, she said it.

Yuto released Hinata at those words, blushing, "Hana..."

"I just want friends, okay? We can still be together and have friends, right?"

Yuto nodded, still blushing.

Now, while she was still high from saying those words, she almost considered getting him to apologize to Mao, but considering how close she'd come to get her own neck slit open, she was less than sympathetic to the girl bleeding on the floor. Sure, she didn't want her to die, but she made her own bed.

Hinata walked over to her slowly, "You know I would have killed you given the chance."

Yuki shook her head, "It was circumstance. I would have done the same if Yuto was hurt." The fact she had nearly axed several people the last time popped into her head.

Hinata closed her eyes as her head bowed, tears streaming down her face. "I dropped the ball dad. Guess you were right about me from day one."

"The girl's right, my dear. It wasn't your fault. I set you on the wrong trail." A man's voice rang out from Hinata's phone. Yuki stiffened. She remembered that voice from the meeting. So this was the real Tenth then.

"Yeah but..."

"It's over, Hinata."

"Don't talk like that, please! There's still a chance you can win the throne and reboot the family!"

He laughed mockingly, "And why would I want to do that? Don't you know a bald-faced lie when you hear one, girl? I swear an inbred beagle has more sense than you."

"Dad," she called out plaintively, begging him say he was joking.

"Don't. The most you'll ever get out of dear old dad is a negative example. Beware, those who seem kindest are often the most insidiously cruel. Few people if any can be trusted to the end. Don't you agree, Fourth?" A gunshot rang out.

A line across the screen of Hinata's phone read, "Dead End."

* * *

And as I'm sure you were expecting: Cuuuuuuuuutttttt! We are at the end of chapter 9, and I thank you for reading. R&R, and flamers doused in salt water.


	10. Episode 10

A/N: And here we are, part 10! Thank you for sticking with it this far. Now I'll get out of your way so you can get to reading.

A/N2: Oh, and before I forget: Merry Christmas!

* * *

Episode 10:

Yuki found herself at a bus stop, wearing a sky-blue sundress (her mother bought her lots of them in this style) and waiting for Akise, sorry Aru (as he insisted on being called) to show up. She didn't know why he wanted to go see a movie together, as she was sure Yuto wasn't too happy at the thought of another man making a move on her, but she went along with it.

"Hello my love."

Yuto's voice startled her as she looked up, seeing him before her in a blue jeans, a white shirt and a matching blue jean jacket. Seeing his hair she fought the urge to run her fingers through it, although like always it was going to be a losing battle.

"Don't just sit there, silly girl. Don't want the bus to leave without us, do we?"

"But I have plans with Akise for the day," she protested, tugging in the opposite direction.

"He told me you'd say that; but it's fine, I've got this. Come on, let's go!" And without any further resistance she was dragged onto the bus.

"Do you know where he is?"

He reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone, flipped it open to show a text from Akise. "Sure do, see?"

She blushed when she read it. Why did he have to word it _that_ way?

"You did want to invite me, right?" The worry in his voice urged her to respond.

"Y-yes, I did!"

As they paid the fare and sat down, Yuto pulled a container with food out of his backpack. Taking a fork, he speared a piece of chicken and held it up to her mouth, "Say ah!"

"Ah." And in went the food. She hummed contentedly as she chewed. She loved Yuto's cooking.

The trip went on like that, Yuto feeding her and watching her sigh happily. It was looking to be a good day.

* * *

They arrived at the site of the wedding trial, a place named the Sakugami Hotel, several other couples were already there. Seeing all the other women that were walking around with their dates made her feel self-conscious as she tugged on the end of her dress.

"This was a bad idea, we should go."

Yuto looked at her sadly, "You mean you don't want to do this with me?"

She waved her hands quickly, "No! It's not like that, it's just... Wouldn't you rather do it with someone prettier than me? I'm not as pretty as those other girls that follow you around." Her head was bowed at the end, her insecurity shining through.

A hand cupped her chin gently, lifting it til she was face to face with Yuto, her eyes looked away bashfully, "Don't look away," his voice was soothing as he bent down to meet her gaze. She blushed, "I don't care about any of those girls, only you."

"Oh, if only I was 10 years younger." The bright tone brought their gaze to the side, where a hotel attendant was standing in the establishment's uniform which consisted of a dark blue skirt and dress jacket atop a white buttoned blouse and a red ribbon tied in a bow at her neck. "I think you two will quite enjoy the experience here."

"Thanks!" Yuto said brightly. Yuki was blushing brightly at being seen in such an intimate position.

It was then that Yuki noticed the employee's name tag. _Kurusu?_ Yuto dragged her away before she could ask the woman.

"Wow! Would you look at that? It looks like something only royalty would eat. Wanna taste how the other half lives?" He looked at her happily.

She smiled in return, "Why not?"

They each took a bite. "Holy crap!"

"It's actually pretty good. But what am I eating? It reminds me of duck."

"Very good! And you are quite right, it's called foie gras."

Yuto looked at something else in front of him, "Then what's that thing that looks like sludge?"

"That's caviar," Yuki said before the attendant could. She seemed impressed at her knowledge of higher cuisine.

"You know a lot about food, are you an aspiring chef?"

She shook her head, "I wish, I looked up these types of meals once a couple years ago and tried my hand at it," she glanced away bashfully, "It didn't come out as well as I liked."

"Did it taste bad?"

"No, my mom just has a really refined pallet and voted it down. And I know it's not top-quality if she doesn't like it."

"And who is your mother, if I may ask?"

"Um, Rea Amano, ma'am." Silence actually fell over the room as people started looking at her. She blinked and glance around, wondering why everyone was so silent. "Did I say something wrong?"

The female staff member shook her head hastily, "Oh no, not at all, it's just she's rather well known for being a rather harsh critic of restaurant foods. Getting a good review from her is the equivalent of getting a five-star rating."

"Wow, I never knew. So that's why we always got preferential treatment when we went out."

Yuto shook his head at her in amusement.

They were led to a room to try on clothes when a woman short on height and temper appeared wearing a purple kimono with an abundance of gray hair on her head and a sour look on her face.

"Who told you I was in the business of baby-sitting snot-nosed little brats?"

"Um, nobody. They just said this is where Hana goes to try on dresses?"

"Ha! So now I have to clothe you as well! I make dresses for sophisticated women, not cow-eyed Tinkerbells! I am an artisan!" she scoffed as she took out a measuring tape in an overly dramatic fashion. "Fair anointed youth cares not for the subtle drape of cloth.

Nor the ageless cut of quality fabric. You like cheap crap, although I admit it's of higher quality than I was expecting. Your mother has good taste."

"Um, thank you?" She wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. Especially with that tag-on at the end.

As this was going on, another employee popped up by Yuto and let him away to try on tuxes, telling him he'd see her soon.

The old woman shoved her into the back room, where she began running around with different fabrics, marking down things on a sheet of paper as she moved.

"Yes, this would look perfect... No that would clash terribly... Oh this will go wonderfully with this and this..." the woman mumbled to herself excitedly in broken sentences, her thoughts running wild as she went.

"So," the woman said she worked, "Who is your mother? She has a fine taste in clothes, however cheap they may be."

Yuki bristled, "My mother is Rea Amano, if you must know! And this was the cheapest thing I had! I thought I was going to the movies today, not a wedding trial."

The old woman looked surprised at that before nodding, "Yes, I can see that. She always had good taste."

It was Yuki's turn to be surprised, "You know my mother?"

The old woman laughed, "Know her, honey I made her wedding dress right here in this room! Ah she was a nervous little thing. How is that man of hers these days?"

And at those words, any joy she had was snuffed out, "They divorced a year ago."

The old woman sighed, "I'm sorry, child. I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories. They were just such a happy couple, so I thought they'd be together til death and beyond. Tell you what, I'll let you keep the dress, free of charge as an apology."

Her eyes widened, "What? But why?"

The seamstress smiled, "No one should be sad on their wedding day."

And with that a bubble of joy burst anew in her chest, and she nodded shyly in agreement.

* * *

30 minutes later, although it felt like hours due to all the pin, needles, and pain she endured to get the dress fitted, it was done.

"Step out, dear, Show it off," the gentle smile on her face in stark contrast to her previous expression.

"But what if he laughs?" Her worried voice coming from inside the curtains.

"If he does, I'll kick in in the shin, now come out. You're beautiful. Now the world just needs to see it too."

She cautiously stepped out of the fitting room, nearly fidgeting but then catching the stern eye of the seamstress and stopping.

* * *

POV Change: Yuto

The groom-to-be was dressed in a western-style white long coat over a gray vest over a white buttoned-up shirt with a blue flared neckerchief acting as a tie along with a pair of also white slacks.

Yuto sucked in a breath at the sight of her. For all that he knew that she was a diamond in the rough, now she shone like the most radiant of gems polished to perfection.

"It doesn't look awful, does it? I'm not much used wearing this style."

The dress was a pure white, cutting off right above the breasts and flowing out at her feet. Ridges formed at the waist, spreading out from a broach-like design near her left hip that served as a split between the top half and the bottom. Smooth on two sides, the bottom was split into three sections of a sort as it was bisected at the side by an ever-widening triangle that reached the foot of the dress, larger ridges present here acting as a divider as the smooth sections circle around the back. A see-through veil adorned her head, falling down to mid-back, two thick white bands circled the edges, one next to the other and accented with little silver stars at the crest of every wave of fabric.

He was still gaping when he yelped. Clutching his shin, he looked down and beheld the stern gaze of the old woman, who nodded in Hana's direction. Realizing his error, he looked up and saw she looked disappointed. He was a blur as he moved to her side, grasping her hands in his.

"I have never beheld a sight more radiant than you."

She sniffed, "Do you mean that?"

"Of course! Would I lie to you about something like this?"

She shook her head as a smile overtook her face, "No, you wouldn't lie."

He felt a slight pain in his chest at that, but he couldn't figure out why, so he dismissed it and went back to admiring her.

The seamstress nodded happily, "So, what do you say to having a wedding ceremony?"

Hana blinked at her, her mind trying to process what the elder had just said before her face turned a brilliant red, "A-a wedding ceremony!"

The woman nodded, "Of course, a dress like this deserves a good wedding to go with it, wouldn't you agree, young man?"

He nodded seriously, and at his agreement, her protests faltered, and agreed to go along with it.

She was given a bouquet and he was stood at the end of the columns of roped-off pews standing beside a priest. The room was lit in the fading the fading sunlight, beams of light coming in through the stained-glass windows that were on each side and at the back, the beams angling downward through the circular parts of the windows providing a spotlight of sorts that landed right in the spot where Yuto was standing as well as the spot where Hana would be in a moments time.

Now, while one might be wondering why this was happening during a wedding TRIAL well, that's because Yuto might have been slightly misleading with the text (he had gone into reply mode and taken out some words that Akise had thought might be pertinent for Hana to know. It might have been a trial, for some, but there was also the option to make it the real deal, and Yuto wasn't about to let anyone else have her if he could help it, even if his bride wasn't exactly aware of her status as such.

Fortunately he was able to invite Mama-Rea, as he didn't want to even _think_ about what would have happened if she wasn't.

As she was walked down the aisle, Rea had a proud-yet-sad look on her face, clearly remembering her own wedding as her only child walked past her slowly.

They both faced the priest that was an older gentleman, his graying hair giving him an air of wisdom and experience. He wore the traditional black tabard of the institution, and had the white stole around his neck. The elderly priest looked at the two fondly, "We are gathered here today to witness the union between Yuto Gasai and Yukihana Amano. Let any who disagree with this union speak now or forever hold their peace."

Silence fell, as Yuto knew would. He figured Akise would probably butt in if he knew this was going to happen, so he made sure that he wouldn't be able to interfere by setting Hinata on him, not that she knew she was being played, of course, but eh, all's fair in love and war as they say.

The ceremony continued without a hitch, they exchanged rings as well, one of them being Rea's old one, a slim silver band with a sapphire stone sitting atop it, and then came the fated words, "By the power invested in me by God and the nation of Japan, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

He lifted the veil off her face and without further ado, did just that. When they parted, he had a blinding smile on his face that he was sure reached solar levels and her with a smile as well, albeit with a very heavy blush. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

Rea clapped happily as they walked down the aisle again, Hana's arm looped through his as they left the room. The next room they went into had a sheet that they signed together, and he felt excitement well within him as she wrote out her new married name of 'Yukihana Gasai'.

They were ushered into a room where she sat in a high-backed chair with the bouquet in her lap and him standing beside her. A man stood behind a tripod camera setup as he directed them for their wedding photo.

"Okay, chins a little to the left and say, "Registry.""

They were both beaming when the camera flashed, and moments later they were sitting in the waiting room, looking over their respective copies of the photo, Hana sitting down on the padded bench and he standing. While he would have loved to be sitting beside her, he still felt bad for deceiving her. He knew it would all work out in the end, his Diary said so, but that didn't take away the trepidation he felt right now.

When it was all over, and Rea had gone back to her house (she gave him a book on how to have sex [that he hid in his backpack] and said, "Make me those grandbabies!". It still surprised him how forward she was when she wanted something.) they were sitting on a bench in the foyer of the hotel, Hana resting against him with her wedding dress in a box beside her, when an employee walked over. Yuto idly noticed she was the same one they met when they arrived here.

* * *

"You've had quite a day."

He smiled, gently stroking his new wife's hair, "Oh yes. You guys really know your stuff."

"Oh to be young again. I'm so jealous of your youth. I sure wish my husband would take a page from your enthusiasm. He's so tied up with work lately I hardly ever see him. But what are you going to do?"

"What does he do for a living, if I may ask?"

"Oh, he's a homicide detective."

The moment suddenly became awkward before Hana shifted, burrowing deeper into his side with a quiet protest to stop moving so much. They both laughed quietly and he hefted her into his arms, taking them to the bus stop.

* * *

Considering the circumstances, and Rea being gone (although he did wonder about that) Yuto decided unilaterally to bring her back to his house.

He was reaching for his key when he noticed something odd. Reaching out his hand, he discovered the door was unlocked. Narrowing his eyes, he moved down the hall, eyes peeled for intruders.

Of course, this one decided to reveal himself rather quickly. "Powers out, you should probably get that fixed."

The nonchalant way he was moving around told Yuto he was familiar with the surroundings, and that led him to one conclusion he really didn't like, "So that's why you sent me that text. You were trying to distract me."

"Well come on, it's not like I could have scoured the place while you were here, could I? I'm good, but not that good."

The door he had previously taped shut wasn't so secured anymore. "Did you go into that room?"

Hana stirred on his back, "Hmm? Yuto, is something *yawn* wrong?"

"Very curious, this room. Have you seen inside? Of course you have, it's your house after all." His hand moved to the door handle.

"You had no right to go poking around!" He snarled. He should have killed him way back at the observatory, Hana's wishes be damned! This punk was trying to tear them apart.

"Oh please, if I had stayed within the bounds of propriety what could I hope to uncover?" He slid the door open to reveal the room beyond it, although there seemed to be a makeshift door on the other side, that lead to the backyard. Apparently the silver-haired teen hadnt been too picky on his methods of investigation as he calmly walked through the room that had things tossed here and there to the backyard, where a large hole could be seen.

Yuto glared at him, "So you dug up my backyard?"

Hana moved about a bit, as all Yuto's shouting had disturbed her slumbering and the rapid movement aside she was nearly fully awake.

"You know, it was rather clever of you, but it wasn't quite clever enough. Did you think someone digging a hole deep into the night and then filling it up again? C'mon, your neighbors aren't that dull."

"Get. Out."

"Fine, fine. But I'll be keeping a close eye on you."

And with that he left.

"Yuto?"

And with that he remembered who was on his back, and rushed to his room, getting a quiet complaint at the jerky movement. When he laid her down on the bed, she held on to him, looking up at him sleepily, "I'm not quite ready for a wedding night, but could you lay with me anyway? I sleep better when you're around."

His rage vanished completely as he nodded happily, "Of course, Hana, anything for you."

* * *

And so they ended another day, wrapped in each others arms.

* * *

A/N: Yes I know that Japan's age of consent is 18 for males and 16 for females with parental approval, I decided to make it 16 for both genders to fit with the story. And obviously Rea agrees, so that's not an issue.

A/N2: here is the dress I tried my hand at describing for Yuki. I hope I did it justice. There were too many to choose from and this one just leapt out at me as being 'the one'. As usual, just remove the spaces.

s. tbdress images/ product/ 3/ 3818/ 3818857_11. jpg


	11. Episode 11

Back for more, eh? Thanks for reading this far and I hope you enjoy this extra-long chapter.

And a Happy New Year to you all!

* * *

Episode 11:

The happy newlyweds were sleeping soundly when hurried knocks came at the door. Rising slowly, Yuki got up and stretched, Yuto's shirt riding up as she did so.

She walked to the door slowly as the knocking continued. When she opened it, it was only to receive a knock on her own head, and she clutched it. Sleepily she murmured, "Ow, meanie. I'm not a door."

Chuckles could be heard as she blearily looked outside. She rubbed her hand that was covered by the sleeve of the shirt in her eye, yawning.

She thought she heard one of the men before her say "cute" but couldn't be sure.

"Can I help you... Masumi! I haven't seen you in a while. Have you come to try my cooking? I know I told you to come by when I got better but I haven't actually improved all that much yet. Unless you're looking to try dating mom again?"

This time snickers could be heard. "My life is over." The man named Masumi Nishijima groaned into his hand. He brought his hand down, "No, I'm not here to taste your cooking, and this isn't even your house, so why would I be here for your mom, anyway?"

"Actually, I think this might be. I might be a little fuzzy, but I seem to recall signing a wedding certificate yesterday. So if you'd be so kind as to go away, I was enjoying a pleasant night's sleep with my husband. And yes, in case you're wondering, my mom okayed it. Heck, she was at the wedding." This was was further proved when the cuff of her shirt slipped down to reveal a shiny silver ring on her finger.

And with that she closed the door and wandered back to her room, loudly cursing out hungry no-good detectives who have no sense of proper times to meet people.

* * *

POV Change: Nishijima

He blinked, "Did we just get blown off?"

"Looks like it. Hey, do you think she'd let us try her cooking is we asked nicely?"

Masumi's hair oddly stayed in place as he banged it against the now-closed-again door, the snickering only got louder as he did so, the other detectives with him openly laughing at how he got the door to the face by a teenage girl.

After a moment, the door opened again, although this time they saw a pair of demonic pink eyes staring at them through the darkness. More than one of them gulped and took a step back at the ferocity of the glare.

"Do you mind? My Hana is trying to sleep and you all are making so much racket that I'd imagine that houses on the next street can hear you!"

Seeing this as his chance, and knowing the kid didn't have anything embarrassing stories of him, cleared his throat, "My name is detective Masumi Nishijima of the Sakurami precinct, and..." but once more he found the door slamming in his face.

"Not interested, go bother someone else." This time as the voice disappeared they heard him grumble about incompetent policemen who keep disturbing his precious Hana's sleep.

Now, Masumi was a rather upbeat guy, and he loved a good romance novel (not the raunchy kind, mind you, he just loved the fluff) but there was only so much he could take in the middle of the night on a murder investigation when both his suspects were slamming the door in his face. Although he doubted Yuki was involved, she was too softhearted to kill someone and she didn't know anyone outside Detective Kurusu who had a gun. Ms. Amano certainly didn't own one.

His brown eyes snapped open after a second round of head-banging, "Alright, that is it!" He kicked the door down with a bang and charged inside. It didn't take long to find the duo as they quickly emerged from their room, Yuki blinking at him in surprise, "Masumi? Was there something you needed? It is awful early you know. Wouldn't it be better to come back later?"

Opening his mouth, he paused. Kurusu had said he wanted them within 24 hours, and it hand't even been three since the warrant was issued. He sighed, "Fine, I guess this can wait, but we'll be back in the morning to pick you two up, so be ready."

And after getting a mumbled promise to be ready they were gone, although he could swear he heard the pink-haired boy swear revenge for his Hana's lost sleep.

He shuddered. Something was terribly wrong with that kid.

* * *

POV Change: Normal

The next morning, the Gasai's were up and ready as promised when the police arrived again. Thankfully it was a far more reasonable hour this time, although Yuto still glared at them for the night's troubles. They busted the door down and didn't even bother to fix it!

Seated on a couch in the waiting room next to two sets of doors, Yuki was leaning against Yuto tiredly as she yawned, still not fully awake yet due her body being deprived of much-needed sleep. Weddings take a lot out of a person!

"Wish they'd clue us in about what's going on," Yuto grumbled. "I know it has to do with an investigation, but this is still ridiculous. And they still haven't fixed my door!"

She giggled tiredly, "Oh Yuto." Yuki looked around slowly, eyes taking in all the detectives standing around them, some with narrowed eyes, and she shivered. "Did we do something wrong?" Tears formed, and in an instant the environment went from hostile to awkward. After all, no honest man likes to see a woman cry. In fact, the men standing around them suddenly found excuses not to be, and quickly vacated the hallway, leaving them by their lonesome.

Moments later Nishijima came out of the interrogation room and walked over to them. He looked confused as to why none of the other officers were around, but shook his head as he looked down at them on the couch. "Ms. Amano," he started.

"Gasai."

He blinked, "What?"

"It's Gasai, not Amano. I thought I told you this last night?"

This time it was Yuto's turn, "You mean knew?" The flabbergasted look on his face was adorable.

She giggled again, "Of course I knew, why do you think I didn't ask why mom was there or why we signed that paper? Did you think I didn't know? I mean, I knew about it long before Akise told you, my mom did get married there after all ("although I didn't know that til yesterday," she mumbled) and I did a lot of research on it. And I may have accidentally dropped the brochure in front of Akise as I was leaving school a couple days ago."

Masumi and Yuto just stared at her gaping, eyebrows hiding in their hairlines with how surprised they were. They never realized she could be so sneaky.

Shivering slightly as he remembered a similar encounter with her mother (and slowly realizing that it had apparently her cunning had been passed down), he continued where he left off, "Well, Mrs. Gasai, it looks like the first person for Q&A is you. I know you probably didn't do it, but it's standard procedure."

Yuto stood up suddenly, eyes clouded over, but before he could take more than a couple steps Yuki grabbed his arm, bringing him to a halt. He looked back at her questioningly, "We're at a police station, and we're just a couple of kids. What's the worst they're gonna do? Besides, when would I have had the time to kill anyone? The only weapon I've ever held is an axe and I only had that during the Omekata incident. And even then I never actually hit anyone with it."

Yuto's eyes cleared up, "Well, if you say so."

Nishijima blinked at her frank statement, wondering how anyone could be so blase about their past when being suspected of a crime. Especially when talking about possible murder weapons, although he did hear from the chief that he had been watching the whole thing go down and while the kid did swing the thing around like a woman possessed, it never actually hit anyone.

He remembered feeling love in the air when he heard it as he remembered the leader of the cult announce her little "fire sale" and felt pride well within him that a woman would go to such lengths for the man she loved. Well, girl and boy in this case, but still!

She was lead to the room where Kurusu was waiting for her, and walked inside, the door closing behind her. He was sitting on the other side of the table, cleaning his gun. He also had a spray can, some bullets, and a couple other things she couldn't identify in front of him.

"Hello, Detective Kurusu."

"Pull up a chair, Yuki. Let's have a chat," he said as he continued to clean his gun.

Deciding to start things off on a cheery note, she smiled at him, which caught him off guard due to the serious atmosphere he was trying to cultivate. "You know, you should go home more often."

"What?"

"You're wife misses you, you know? And I'm sure she'd love it if you took some time off to see her."

"When did you talk to my wife?" His tone was suspicious with a hint of venom.

She blinked, confused at the harsh reaction, "Yesterday at the Sakugami Hotel. They were holding Wedding Trials so Yuto and I went there to try it out." She snickered at her own pun.

Kurusu appeared to be caught flatfooted if the flabbergasted expression on his face was anything to go by as he tried to come up with a way to wrest control of the conversation back, even if he never had it to begin with. Shaking his head, he opened his mouth to try again when she threw _another_ curve ball.

"I know it's hard to be a homicide detective, but breaking down a newlywed couple's door in the middle of the night isn't appropriate, no matter if they are suspects. What if we'd been naked? And I don't think my mom will appreciate me being taken in, either."

He sighed, he knew he was going to regret asking, but it didn't seem like she was going to stop anytime soon if he didn't. That and he didn't want to open the other can of worms that he knew would burst if he talked about their modesty or lack thereof in middle of the night. "And why should I care about your mother's opinion?"

"Because she's Rea Amano and apparently she's rather well-known around these parts."

* * *

POV Change: Kurusu

He froze. _Shit, I forgot about her mother!_ While most people would be panicking in this situation, the young girl had to do a name-drop. And a rather effective name-drop at that. And while he wasn't sure about the newlywed part, he knew that if someone's daughter, especially one with Rea Amano's reputation, just had a great day only to have the evening ruined by some overeager cops, they'd be pissed.

Heavens knew his wife was the same way.

"Eheheheh." He chuckled awkwardly, sweat pouring down his face, "Well, um... I think that's all for now. You can go."

And there went his perfect strategy to get rid of two Diary users at once. Dammit! Why did she have to have such an influential mom?! Sure his kid was dying, but it wouldn't matter if he got locked up himself! Then he would be easy pickings for the others and his Diary would be out of his protective radius, as well as useless.

She stood up with a smile, "It was good to see you again, detective. I hope you find what you're looking for."

And with that she walked out of the room, the door closing behind her.

Kurusu scowled. How the hell had he just gotten manipulated into letting a Diary user go? He had a vested interest in winning now, but it seemed lady luck was still on Yuki's side as she managed to defuse what would have become a dangerous situation for her in her favor.

"Nishijima! Bring in the boy!" He yelled down the hall. He scowled, if he couldn't get the girl, he'd at least take out her protector. He was the real danger anyway.

* * *

POV Change: Yuto

The pink-haired husband of Yukihana looked down at his Diary in surprise. At first it had said Kurusu would try to kill her, but then it crackled and changed to say that she would walk out unmolested. He didn't like this. Hana walked by him to the couch with a smile, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently before he was lead to the interrogation room by the brown-haired detective.

Like Hana before him, he sat in the chair on the opposite side of Kurusu, who was finishing cleaning up his gun and loading rounds into it.

And once again like before, he opened his mouth to speak but unlike before Kurusu wasn't having any of it.

* * *

POV Change: Kurusu

He slammed his hands on the table with a bang, "No! You do not speak! You will listen!" the holder of the Investigation Diary snarled almost manically. His eyes were wide with a crazed light as he stared at the kid, daring him to speak. When he didn't, he sat back in his chair with a nod.

"Now, I would have started it more genially with your little girlfriend," he began...

Only for Yuto to spoil it for him, "Wife."

He blinked, then he banged his head on the table as he remembered the girl saying they were newlyweds. He had thought it was just a couple kids playing house or something, but considering how many times the wedding trial had become wedding fact he should have guessed someone like Yuto Gasai would take advantage of it to tie her to him in a more permanent fashion.

The door was pushed open right then, Nishijima barging in with his gun drawn, "Sir, is everything alright? We heard a lot of shouting and banging and became worried."

He looked up at him blearily, his head showing the remnants of his act of banging his head against a metal table.

Considering the timing, the kid would have had to have supernatural speed and strength to overpower Kurusu enough to bang his head on the table as well as get get back into his seat without it making a peep.

Nishijima sighed, "Sir, I understand you wanted to question them, but considering the circumstances..."

The chief inspector waved with his hand, "He can go. Get him out of here."

Just great, there went that idea. How was he supposed to save his son now? Damn that imp!

* * *

POV Change: Yuto

As he was being led back to Hana, Nishijima asked him something, "So, what was that all about? Do you know why he reacted that way?"

He tilted his head in confusion, "Not really, all I said was that Hana and I are married and then he... What are you doing?"

Said man was banging his head against the wall. Yuto patted his back awkwardly, "Um, there there?"

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Masumi said blandly.

The pink-haired teen shook his head, cheerily replying, "Nope."

He was was lead back to the waiting room where Hana was sitting on the couch looking miserable along with a female detective while a bunch of officers ran around like headless chickens trying to make them feel better and failing miserably.

Both males blinked at the odd scene.

She looked up when she heard footsteps and visibly brightened, the tears on her face magically disappearing as she moved to his side and hugged his arm between her breasts, "Yuto!"

The other men all sighed as one and slumped to the floor, some resting their backs on each others as they tried to regain their energy. The female on the couch looked like her favorite toy had just been taken away.

"What happened?" Nishijima demanded, looking at the only person other than himself and Yuto still standing (the female officer didn't count).

She looked up at him with big, sparkly (?), tear-filled eyes as she recounted what happened.

_/\\_/\\_/\\_/\\_  
Flashback: 10 minutes earlier

 _After Yuto was escorted to the interrogation room, Yuki felt lonely. She was, after all, in a police station being accused of a crime she didn't even know the first thing about.  
_

 _She started to tear up, and, remembering her mother's stories about how men fall apart when girls cry, proceeded to do just that. The first man who saw the shiny drops of liquid roll down her cheeks was a relatively young man by the name of Haruto Furosawa. He blanched immediately as he recognized what was coming, and tried to stop it._

" _No, no, please don't cry!"_

 _His words drew the attention of all the other men in the area along with the lone female on duty. The woman, sensing what the girl was doing, shared a wicked smirk with her before joining her on the couch, and soon enough they were both bawling as the men ran around getting them anything they wanted. Coincidentally, the woman had purple hair done up in a ponytail and purple eyes hidden behind glasses._

 _Yuki obviously knew who she was, but decided to ignore it in favor of manipulating... sorry, guiding the weak-willed males..._ Oh blast, there I go again. Slip of the tongue, really. _I meant strong, chivalrous men._

_/\\_/\\_/\\_/\\_

Flashback End

"And then you showed up and all the fun ended." The pout on her face only gave further credence to their next thought.

Yuto and Nishijima looked at the girl holding the pinkette's arm, and then back at each other. Opposing looks overtook their faces as everything they had heard finally processed.

 _This girl is evil!_

 _My woman is brilliant! I'll never have to worry about her if she keeps this up._

I'll leave you to figure out who thought what.

They were escorted out of the building faster than they could blink, the men shoving Yuto out and then plopping Hana into his arms and saying, "She's your problem now!"

And promptly shut the doors in his face.

* * *

After going home (well, Yuto's at any rate) they promptly changed and fell asleep, the events, while not as harrowing as they could have been, still taking a lot out of them.

They found themselves at the hospital later because Rea was follow-up appointment after getting her head checked due to the knot Yuto gave her chasing Houjou.

They were just leaving when Hana stopped, her nose sniffing the air. "I smell something."

"It's not me. I showered before we left." They had made a pit stop at Yuki's house before heading off.

Hana waved a hand negligently in his direction, "Not that kind of smell. I smell donuts."

If there was one thing Yuto learned during his brief time married to her, was that she loved donuts. The fact that she had had a box of them in her arms and crumbs all over her face when he came back from the very brief interrogation with Kurusu only emphasized this.

Hana looked in the direction of the scent and was surprised to find Mrs. Kurusu walking toward the hospital. She nearly walked up to her, eyes clouded over when Yuto grabbed her and hid in a corner of the lobby just in sight of the entrance but at such an angle that no one entering the building could see them. His hand covered her mouth and kept her pinned to his side as she tried to approach the woman holding a box of her favorite food/treat.

When the woman was out of sight, opting to use the stairs instead of the elevator, Yuto found his curiosity piqued, and so chose to follow the woman, keeping a firm hand on his wife so she didn't charge ahead and announce their presence too early.

After going up a couple flights of stairs she was finally able to control herself enough to ask a question. "What's she doing in the hospital? She obviously isn't visiting her husband, she's too calm for that."

"We need to get to the bottom of this, come on." Yuto moved on ahead, walking determinedly down the hallway. But it was then that his phone crackled, and he turned around in a panic, "Hana, look out!"

The windows blew out, the broken glass sticking out of the walls and floor.

"What're you made of, that you're still in one piece?"

Yuto's eyes were open in a flash, "What the hell are you doing here?" The last place he had expected to run into Uryuu Minene was a hospital. A wide hole in the floor separated them.

"Oh come on, is that any way to kick off a reunion?" her mocking voice was as irritating as always. She was dressed in a nurse's outfit, her long purple hair done up in a ponytail, and had an eye patch over her left eye. Yuto felt a grim satisfaction that it was Hana that did that. Of course it was at that point he noticed a familiar-looking pad connected to her waist. And something else.

Yuto seethed when he saw Minene had an arm around Hana's neck, "Yuto, look out!" The detonator in Minene's left hand drew his attention for a split second before focusing on his woman once more.

"Ninth!"

"I got to hand it to you, your timing's dead on. I was getting bored out of my mind. Let's blow up the boy-toy first, shall we? Nothing personal, this is a girl's only event and we don't want you feeling unwanted, do we?" The purple-haired terrorist smirked evilly as she rubbed her cheek against Hana's, raising the detonator to her other cheek as she did so.

It was then that he noticed Hana had a piece of glass sticking out of her side, and a whole new feeling welled up inside him. For all that he had seen her hurt, it was never like this.

She whimpered in Uryuu's arms, leaning heavily against her as her strength flagged. Her hand slipped, brushing the pad that also acted as a detonator for an explosive that went on immediately behind them, creating a little island in the middle of the hallway.

Minene was shocked at the unscheduled detonation and looked at her captive furiously, "What the hell's the matter with you? Are you trying to kill us both?" When she got no response, she released her temporarily and spun her around, intent on shaking an answer out of her when the girl immediately sank to the floor, a pained look on her face, and the older woman saw the glass shard in her hip. "Oh shit!"

Yuto looked around and saw a ladder nearby and spread it across the gap, creating a temporary bridge. "Bring her over, now!" While he didn't want to, he knew had to put his faith in Minene to bring his love safely across.

Before Ninth could do anything, though, her phone rang, and Fourth's voice came out of it, although he couldn't pick out the words. Yuki looked distressed as she listened to the detective though, and in that moment the alliance between them officially ended.

"What?" That one word was filled with so much irritation at being interrupted that he could almost see it oozing.

Hana tried to crawl away but Uryuu kept a firm grip on the girl, "Quit squirming! You'll upset the shrapnel."

Kurusu's voice came out again, his tone holding the same anger he had experienced earlier in the day. Minene did not look pleased, "I'm buying you time!" She exclaimed in frustration.

Hana kept squirming however as Kurusu kept talking, but Minene never let her go more than an inch in any direction. Her face only grew angrier as the man she apparently allied with went on, before his last words were shouted out, "...if you double-cross me you're dead!"

"Fuck you!" And with that she hung up. "'Kay, that felt good." She stood up then, holding the injured First in fireman's carry and walked toward the laid-down ladder before a crackling sound filled the air, and Yuto didn't have to be a psychic to know what it said.

The woman walked across the ladder with a grim expression, "We're doing this. Not that it matters now, Fourth will be here any minute. There." She, with a gentleness Yuto hadn't thought possible, lowered Hana to the ground.

Yuto was there in a flash, and was reaching for the glass to pull it out when a slender hand stopped him. He glared at Uryuu. "Don't. If you take that out now she'll die. We don't have the tools necessary to staunch the blood flow that'll happen if it's removed."

Grumbling, but, bowing to the escape-artist's superior medical knowledge, he didn't remove the glass. Raising his hand to Yuki's pale, sweat-covered cheek, he cradled it, "We'll get through this, and you'll be all better. Okay? Trust me." She nodded weakly.

Ninth walked past them with determination in her step, "Come on, we need to try and even the odds."

Yuto hefted Hana into his arms before following.

Navigating the halls, they came to a stop in front of room 413. "What's in there?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"The reason Fourth pulled the plug on your little alliance." She pulled the door open and walked inside.

Naoko Kurusu looked up from her child's bedside at the noise, and smiled slightly at the sight of the couple from the other day, "Your the young couple from the wedding expo." Her eyes then caught sight of the glass sticking out of Hana's right side and gasped, "What happened?"

Minene ignored her and leaned against a table by the wall. "Kid's name is Yoh. Few weeks ago the doctors said he only had 3 months to live on the outside. The prognosis gave Kurusu second thoughts about the game, and now he wants to be god."

His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "How do you know all this?"

"Because I made a deal with him. He burned my dossier in return for a favor." The woman then callously turned around and took a donut out of the box sitting on the table behind her, "Of course, that's all off the table now. Only way out of this is for us to team up. Use his family against him."

Hana seem to come alive at that, "No!" She struggled in Yuto's arms, ignoring the pain in her side as she moved, "We aren't terrorists! We don't take hostages!"

"Stop moving! You'll upset the glass."

Mrs. Kurusu didn't exactly like what the purple-haired woman was saying, but a child needed help, so she stood up, "Here, she can have my seat."

Yuto smiled at her appreciatively and did just that, gently lowering his wounded wife and making sure the shard wasn't dislodged as he did so.

Minene walked up to them, holding out the box as she munched on a donut, "Chow down, you're going to need the energy."

Hana refused, "Th-those aren't for u-us," she wheezed out, her tortured lungs heaving in protest.

"You're bleeding out and you're worried about that?"

Naoko smiled sadly, "I don't think I could eat them now, and Yoh obviously can't have them, so please don't hold back on my account."

And with that she plucked a donut from the box and put it in Yuto's hands, having seen how close the two of them are and trusting him to feed her.

He knelt in front of Hana, "Come on, sweetie, you need to keep up your energy."

She looked at him weakly before slowly opening her mouth, not having the energy to lift her arms. As she chewed, Mrs. Kurusu looked around the room with Minene to see if they could find something to halt the bleeding, but all they had were a pare of needles and thread from the elder Kurusu's purse.

Minene grimaced, "This is going to hurt a lot, and we'll have to be quick about it. Second! Hold her while I pull it out!"

Hana's head lolled as Yuto held her steady, whispering words of encouragement as the glass was pulled out inch by inch, a cloth pressing up to the wound as more blood poured out. The only reason she didn't bite her tongue off from the pain was due to stuffing a cloth in her mouth.

As soon as it was out, Minene got to work, having experience sewing herself up in situations where doctors weren't available. It wouldn't last, but it would hold up long enough for a professional to stitch it up.

"Oh and by the way, this truce of ours will end as soon as Fourth's out of the picture."

* * *

POV Change: Kurusu/ Fourth

A helicopter flew over the hospital, searchlights combing the sides of the building in an attempt to find Minene (and Yuki and Yuto, but they didn't know that yet). Several cop cars and buses pulled up, policemen and SWAT exiting and setting up a perimeter around the building. And then a blue car drove into the parking lot.

The car pulled to a stop in front of the hospital. Stepping out, he glared up at the windows where he could vaguely see a head of pink hair through the window that he knew led to his son's hospital room. He then clutched his bandaged forehead in pain as his self-inflicted injury pulsed. He growled, "Those kids are gonna get it."

"What was that, chief?" Nishijima asked, getting out of the driver's side.

Wincing, he remembered that as his plan hadn't actually worked, the kids weren't the ones being chased. Thankfully, Minene had decided to switch sides and now he could go after her and the kids at the same time calling them accomplices.

"Oh nothing."

But for right now, he'd have to bide his time. Oh, how he wished that girl hadn't spoken first.

* * *

A/N: And another done! Thanks for reading and see you next week!


	12. Episode 12

A/N: Another week, another chapter, I hope you like this one. Now on with the show.

* * *

Episode 12:

Naoko held a wet cloth to Yuki's forehead as she laid on the hospital bed beside Yoh. It wasn't the roomiest, but their options were limited at the moment.

Minene had stated she originally intended to tie the lady up, but the kid needed someone to look after her and she couldn't do that tied up. Plus they (Uryuu and Yuto) had other tasks that needed to be done.

"Are you bothered by the ethics?"

"As long as my Hana makes it out of this, I don't care about ethics." The rather frank way Yuto said that brought a smile to Yuki's lips before she grimaced in pain. She wasn't going to be much help right now.

"Alright, here's the deal. I nominate myself to spearhead negotiations.

"Yuto, monitor the perimeter. Yuki will stay here and rest. She's in no condition to be of any use to us right now."

"Got it."

"Hey kid, right pocket or left?"

Yuki had no idea what Ninth was getting at, but decided it was best to play along."Right?"

Minene smirked, "Looks like today's your lucky day." She pulled out a grenade and nearly tossed it to her before remembering she shouldn't move around a lot and placed it on the bedside table. "You know how to use this, right? Just make sure it's not near you after pulling the pin. Don't want your little boy-toy to kill me for getting you killed."

Yuto walked over to her and pressed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Hey, Yuto?"

"What is it, sweetie?"

"If we make it out of this alive, can we go somewhere special? We haven't gone on very many dates and..." she started coughing harshly. Mrs. Kurusu applied a new cloth, fluffing the pillow under head to make her more comfortable.

"Shh, don't talk so much, you're still injured. And yes, we can go wherever you want to when this is done."

She smiled weakly. He kissed her and moved out into the hallway.

"Alright, enough with the sweetness already, it's enough to make me want to vomit. Now rest up and watch for intruders."

She bristled at the insult, but slumped back in the bed and nodded her understanding.

And then Minene was gone, leaving the mother, the teen girl, and the boy alone.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in all of this. We were just visiting my mom and then..."

She shushed her, "It's alright, dear." She had a tight smile on her face, her shoulders tense as she repositioned the cloth on her forehead, "I know it's not your fault. You're too sweet to do something like this. Them, on the other hand..." Naoko's eyes darkened. She clearly wanted to say something bad about Yuto and Uryuu but it was probably with words that she didn't want her son or Yuki herself to hear, although she had probably heard worse from her own father.

Minene began talking to Kurusu over the phone, and with what she was hearing, it sounded like Kurusu didn't want to make any deals. Ninth cursed. "Damn you!" she yelled as the connection ended. No, Yuki didn't like it at all.

The woman eyed her for a moment before she began moving around, and she really didn't like the look of the thing she slid under the bed. The "No hard feelings" she gave certainly didn't reassure her.

Minene made a linen-rope and disappeared out the window. Mrs. Kurusu and her locked eyes for a moment and then sighed in unison.

"This is going to end badly, isn't it?"

"Knowing our husbands? Probably."

"I really hope they don't blow this place up."

"Well if men have their way we'd all be blown up."

"Sad, but true."

And then silence overtook the room.

Then the room shook, dust falling from the ceiling from the force of the shockwave. Yuki sat up suddenly, only to be pushed back down, "You shouldn't be moving so much, you'll rip the threads out."

"My Yuto's in trouble, I can't just keep laying here while he's out there fighting for me!"

She pushed aside Naoko's hand and somehow made it out of the room and around the corner before the SWAT team arrived.

With Naoko:

The team ran in to room 413, pointing guns everywhere before spotting the kid on the bed and their chief's wife.

The woman waved.

"Put your... hands where I can see them?" The man obviously hadn't expected such a situation. What kind of hostage-taker left their hostages unattended?

The leader nodded, and wasn't long before the kid was placed on a stretcher and taken out of the hospital with Naoko walking alongside her son.

* * *

Back to Yuki:

She made another turn and found the two in a gun-to-gun standoff with several dead SWAT on the ground between them. And while she couldn't see Yuto's face as his back was to her, she could see Kurusu's and the crazed look in his eyes told her he wouldn't let them leave here outside a bodybag if he could help it, that is, if there was even a body _to_ bag.

"Yuto!" The split second when the pink-haired Gasai turned around Kurusu moved, and an explosion rocked the building as the floor collapsed under them.

When she next came to, she was on an elevated piece of debris, her right arm hanging down its side.

"Hana!" She blearily opened an eye to see Yuto rising to his feet in front of her only for her to be dragged to her feet by her hair and an arm around her neck. Her neck sensation was that of a scalpel knife being held to her throat.

"Not another step closer, Second!"

She noticed he had a different gun in his hand then before. She tried to remember where she'd seen it only to give it up as her hip sent a pulse of pain up her spine. She jerked in the man's grip as she gasped. He tightened his grip and moved the knife closer, "I know you care about her, and if you think for a second that I'm not willing to slit her throat then your delusional. Drop the gun!"

"As long as you hold Hana, I will never let go!"

"Then I guess we're at an impasse. Oh well, sorry kid, hopefully heaven will treat you better than this world did." She felt the knife pierce her neck briefly before a gunshot rang out and the knife removed. Yuki heard staggered footsteps behind her, "What the hell?! I won't let it end like this. Not by a punk like you! I will become a god!" She turned around wearily, her hand at her side, and saw him raising his hand with the scalpel high.

"Put it down, Chief." A new voice rang out. She looked down and saw Nishijima standing there handcuffed to Uryuu.

"Bang on for timing, huh?"

"Kurusu."

Said-man brought his arm down, "Stay out of this.

"I know you killed Tsukishima and then had the gall to try and pin it on a couple of kids. Fortunately you couldn't make that stick."

"What kind of cop takes the word of a terrorist at face value?"

"A bad one." Minene held up her phone and pressed a button and a recording began to play, Kurusu's voice filling the void.

" _Believe it or not, I've come here to make a deal with you."_

" _What do you have in mind?" Ninth asked curiously._

" _I'm offering to call the uniforms off..."_

"You got me." Kurusu said as he spoke over the recording. Minene ended it.

"Drop the weapon now. You, You're under arrest."

"Oh yeah?" He sounded haughty but there was a tint of nervousness in his tone.

"How's it feel? To be on the other side of the law I mean."

Kurusu grimaced, the scalpel dropping from a limp hand and the bullet in his chest forgotten as he stared at the figures below him with a resigned air.

"You're Diary is useless now, I'm afraid. You know, seeing as you're not a real cop anymore."

He checked it halfheartedly. And sure enough, it was blank, save for a Dead End. "Makes sense, I guess." He closed his eyes with a sigh. "Just tell me one thing, are my wife and kid okay?"

"A SWAT team evacuated them before the bomb exploded," Nishijima said calmly. "They're shook up, but safe."

He leaned his head back, face facing the ceiling. "Do me a favor, Ninth. I have to ask you to team up with me again, but in return." He grabbed both sides of his phone with his hands, and broke it, "I'll deal myself out."

By this time, Yuto had gotten Yuki down to the level with the others, her leaning against him heavily as he was too tired to support her in his arms.

"Watch over my son."

"I can do that."

"For what it's worth, Yuki, I'm sorry. Doesn't mean much coming from a bastard like me, I know. But you're going to win this game. I know it." And with that he disappeared into the hole, all watching on.

"I think I'm going to faint now." And with that Yuki was out like a light, the dim voices of panic reaching her ears but she was unable to understand the words.

It was then that a clicking noise could be heard and then she was hefted into the air by a pair of strong arms. More fuzzy words and then, as air began to brush her face, she was gone.

* * *

6 days later

Yuki was released from the hospital a couple days ago, her wound sending her to the emergency room to get treated for possible infection and stitches as it had been open too long. The temporary stitching done by Uryuu saved her life as without it she would have died with all the jostling.

Mentioning her, Nishijima had let her go in favor of getting Yuki to a medic to stabilize her til ER doctors could arrive. It was touch and go for a little while and Yuto was inconsolable as he was unable to do anything while she was being treated. Rea arrived just as a doctor came out and announced she was going to make it, and the two clung to each other crying tears of joy.

As it is, she was on bed rest for the rest of the week so as to allow the stitches to settle.

The girl in question woke up with a yawn. Rea had insisted on the two of them staying at her house while she recovered, most likely to keep an eye on her only child, not that anyone blamed her.

The post-marital bliss that the young couple had been hoping for was still being waited on, as Yuki was too weak to do anything strenuous on top of the doctor's orders.

The arms around her waist tugged her back down, a kiss on her neck inciting a giggle from sleepy lips as Yuto smiled at her, "Morning, beautiful."

"Good morning, handsome."

As a way not to exacerbate the wound it was suggested (by Rea of course) that she sleep naked. Yuto, not wanting her to feel left out, declared he would do the same, much to her embarrassment.

The bed in her old room was changed for a bigger one, requiring some of her things to be moved around to make space for it.

A knock sounded at the door, "You two decent?" Not waiting for a reply, Rea opened the door and stuck her head in, a pair of heavy-duty headphones around her neck. She looked at them slyly, "So, when can I expect grandbabies?"

That was another thing that changed, Rea became more forward about her desires for babies to spoil, and, while on the day she was released she was rather tearful, that very evening she banged on the wall while they were getting ready for bed and yelled, "Keep it down! Some of us are trying to sleep."

Now, they were actually being rather quiet, but at those words Yuto had asked if she wanted to make noise just to spite her mom, and a red-faced Yuki pushed a laughing Mr. Gasai onto their bed, turned off the light and joined him.

Yuki threw a pillow at her smirking mother, prompting the Amano to close the door with a laugh as she went down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Yuto chuckled as he sat up, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck again. She swatted him, "Stop that, we'll never leave if you keep that up."

He grinned slyly into her neck, "Oh? Feeling hungry are we?"

She turned beet-red as she realized the implications of her own words and whirled around, staring him in the eyes, "You know I didn't mean it like that!"

*Lemon warning*

His grin turned devilish as he leaned in to claim her lips, her protests turning to a moan under his assault. The blanket fell out of her hands as they moved to his hair, running her fingers through it as their faces tried to become one. His hands roamed, starting at her cheeks and moving own to her breasts, enveloping them and then tweaking her nipples. Yuki's moans grew louder in his mouth as she arched into him, and his grin grew wider as he moved from her mouth to her neck, suckling hard enough to leave his mark upon it.

She threw her head back, gasping for breath as he continued his assault. His right hand slowly made its way down her belly to her sacred place, the instant his fingers brushed it caused her to stiffen. She had never been touched down there before, at least, not since... Her mind wandered down a dark path before it was brought back to the light as a finger was plunged into her core. Her fingers dug into his back as he pumped, eventually adding a second finger and then a third, stretching her wide. His mouth covered her left breast with his free hand on her right, sucking the nipple into her mouth and rolling it between her teeth, nipping it here and there.

It all proved too much for Yuki as, with a loud cry that he quickly muffled with his mouth, she experienced her first orgasm, her fluids pouring out of her and covering his hand and the bed under her. He removed his hand as she lay gasping, trying to regain her wits as white spots covered her vision. She looked down at him and felt a heat in her core as she watched him lick his fingers clean, and then he leaned back down to kiss her, and she tasted him on his tongue. She wasn't sure why he seemed to like it, but it made her heat up like nothing else.

Yuto kissed his way down her chest until he was between her thighs, and she covered her face with her hands, "Don't look, it's embarrassing."

Yuki knew she wasn't beautiful, everyone in every class she had ever been in were quite up front about it. They made no secret of her apparent simpleness and how no one would ever want to marry her let alone date.

Her husband reached up a hand and removed a hand from her face, "Don't cover your eyes, you don't need to be embarrassed. There is nothing to be ashamed of. I didn't marry you for your looks (although you are gorgeous). I married you for you, and I will gladly fight anyone who says otherwise."

She smiled at his sweet words, although she squeaked seconds later as he lowered his face to her slit and licked the length of it. That squeak quickly became a moan as he plunged his tongue inside, adding a finger to thrust alongside it. She arched her back, crying out his name as she came for the second time that morning. As she lay panting, she pulled him up to her face and kissed him, tasting herself again, and all too soon she was dripping at the erotic sharing of her cum.

Not long after he was positioned between her thighs, his cock straight as an arrow as he guided it to her pussy, a look of rapture on his face. Yuto looked at her then, a question in his eyes that she wasn't really up to verbalizing a reply to but answered with a nod.

He leaned down and kissed her lips briefly, "This will hurt a bit, but it will fade."

And with that he pushed, and she experienced a pain like no other. She dug her fingers in his back crying at the sensation of being torn in two as her maidenhead was ripped apart. He shushed her with gentle kisses to the forehead, heedless of the pain she was causing him by digging in her nails.

A few minutes passed, and she experimentally shifted her hips, earning a groan from her husband as she discovered the pain was fading. She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him, "I'm ready."

He kissed her hard before drawing himself out and ramming back in, shaking the bed in the process at the powerful thrust. He repeated the action over and over again as he attempted to meld them into one, and soon she was meeting him thrust for thrust.

Her cries grew louder and louder as they drew closer to the climax.

"I-I'm cumming, Yuto!"

"Me too, Hana!"

And with one final thrust, he pushed in as far as he could go, yelling out her name and her his, as they both experienced mind-shattering orgasms. Yuto's cock spurted thick ropes of cum into her womb, coating it white. The extra mingled with the white and red that was Yuki's, her virgin blood mixing with the cum.

He pulled out of her with a wet plop, falling beside her and wrapping her in his arms, drawing the blanket over them as she closed her eyes in exhaustion.

*Lemon End*

They woke up a couple hours later, the sun already high in the sky.

Walking down the stairs after getting dressed (albeit Yuki was too sore for anything other than a large shirt), they made their way to the kitchen were Rea was waiting at the table smiling like the cat that got the canary.

"So," she began evilly, "How was breakfast?"

Yuki buried her face in her hands as she groaned.

Yuto however had a shit-eating grin on his face as he answered, "Absolutely delicious, mom!"

She sank down into her seat. Yuki could swear she felt her soul leave her body for a moment as Rea high-fived her son-in-law.

"Seeing as I'm sure you've worked up quite an appetite, what with you becoming a woman and all," the smug satisfaction rolling off her and Yuto set her face aflame. "I made sure to make each of your favorites. Enjoy!"

The food was devoured quickly, as true to Rea's word they had worked up quite an appetite, and all too soon they were back in her... no, their room, with Yuto putting the rest of his clothes on and her sitting on the bed watching, her core still too sore for any underwear.

She glared at him half-heartedly, "You didn't have to be so rough, I don't think I'll be able to walk straight for a week!"

Yuto only smirked in response before bringing out his phone and checking his Diary. His eyes widened before his lips stretched into a smile, pure joy shining in his eyes. He raced over and kissed her, and all she could do was lean into it and blink in confusion when he pulled back.

"What was that for?" she asked with a faint laugh.

He didn't answer, only leaning down for another kiss before he bounced out of the room, the smile still there.

Four hours later, Yuki felt well enough to put on some panties, although it still felt uncomfortable. She wore a pink dress with a white collar and a blue bowtie over a black undershirt with no sleeves, the dress having a slit in the middle that allowed some of the undershirt to be seen through it. The dress was kept close with a belt, a red sleeveless jacket that also didn't cover her upper back with a big pocket on each side. Most of her legs were covered in black stockings, stopping just under the dresses hem, and her feet are covered by laceless brown boots. Her head was covered by a red straw hat with a blank band wrapped around the base. (The outfit is basically Serena's from Pokemon, as shown here. Just remove the spaces: pm1. narvii 5779/ a7aa9f7c918b2dd4d2aca831b4b3f44bdbed3496_hq. Jpg)

Standing outside, she was waiting for Yuto who was inside talking to her mom. She sighed as he walked out, "Ready to go?"

He was wearing dark-gray jeans with a pair of brown tennis shoes, a dark-blue muscle shirt and a light blue jacket along with a gym bag slung over his shoulder. The determined look on his face confused her, as she tilted her head to stare at him for a moment before she shrugged and pinched his cheeks.

He yelped, "Ow! What was that for?"

"You shouldn't look so serious, you'll get premature wrinkles."

He shook his head, and motioned for her to lead on. "So how long are you going to keep me in suspense?"

She giggled, "We're just heading over to my dad's house to pick up my telescope and then we're off to see the stars."

A shadow seemed seemed to fall over him before he was gushing about a night under the stars with "His Hana", so she thought she imagined it as he started gushing about a night watching the stars with her. Grabbing her phone from her pocket, she dialed her dad's cellphone. It rang through.

"That's odd, he always picks up."

"What was that?"

"Dad's phone must be out of range or something, he always picks up when I call."

Yuto frowned at the new piece of information, but he seemed to have a way to brighten his spirits.

He grabbed her phone and ran to the train,"Last one there has to massage the other's feet!"

"Hey, no fair, you got a head start!"

"Since the train's not here yet, I'll make a pit stop. Would you like me to get a drink while I'm gone?"

* * *

POV Change: Yuto

"Kay." He waved as she walked off, and frowned as Hana's phone vibrated, signifying a message coming in.

:Stay away from Mr. Gasai. The police want to question Mr. Gasai, but he is missing. Be very careful.:

His eyes narrowed. How dare he try and scare his Flower away? He deleted it immediately. Just then Hana came back with drinks in hand.

He smiled at her, "Hey, you're going to end up losing this thing."

She pinked, "I knew you had it, so why worry? Did anyone try to call me?"

He shook his head, "You got some spam, but I got rid of it."

She tilted her head, "Really? What was it about?"

"Jehovah's Witnesses*."

Her mouth made a ring as she replied, "Oh." And nothing more was said.

The train arrived shortly after and soon enough they were on their way.

Sitting across from each other in adjacent seats with his feet in her lap, she was giving him the promised foot massage.

"So hey, what's with the large bag? Kinda big for a day trip, don't ya think?"

"Well hey, when you surprise him a guy's got to be prepared."

"Were you expecting a surprise trip to Europe?"

Yuto's thoughts wandered to the contents. It would hurt, but he couldn't let her know the truth.

"No silly, I just thought I'd bring a change of clothes, and some first aid. And maybe some unmentionables."

* * *

* I apologize if this offends anyone. Many Jehovah's Witnesses have been showing up on my doorstep lately, so I felt it was fitting.

And with that the chapter ends, until next week! Although As I found upon uploading, it'll be shorter than all my earlier ones, and for that I apologize.


	13. Episode 13

A/N: I know I know, I said I wouldn't have a really short chapter, but in my defense I wrote all of this back in April and completely forgot how long this one was.

A/N2: I did what I could to make this chapter as long as possible, but seeing as I am by-and-large writing from Yuki and Yuto's perspectives, the actions of Akise and the others regarding them will be largely left out save for when they finally make it to them, so I apologize if any are dissatisfied with it.

Now with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter! Also, Lemon warning.

* * *

Episode 13:

They had transferred to a bus after getting off the train. Yuto was resting his head on Yuki's shoulders, his eyes closed. She was gently stroking his head as she watched the trees and grasslands go by.

She perked up as she noticed the last stop before theirs pass by and reached up to request that the bus let them off at the next one when Yuto reached up a hand and captured hers.

She looked at him curiously, "Is something up? This is our stop."

He smiled brightly, "No one said it had to be."

"But this was where we were gonna look at the stars."

"I've got a better spot in mind, don't you worry."

She looked at him suspiciously, "Alright, we'll do it your way."

After some more stops rolled by, they got off and sat on the bench there. Considering they had been on the bus longer than expected, she had gotten too used to the warmth of the large vehicle, and the rapid change in temperature caused her to shiver. Yuto looked at her in concern.

"Hana, I'm thirsty. I'm going to go and buy a drink, if that's okay."

"Sure, you know what I like, so if it wouldn't be too much trouble..."

He shook his head, "Not at all, sweetie, I'd be happy to."

"The clouds are pretty sparse here, the view should be great."

And with that she decided to get her telescope out and placed it in front of her, knowing that the next bus wouldn't be showing up til the next day. Yuki put her eye to it and gasped in delight. The sun might not have set yet, but it was still quite a sight.

She was so captivated by the sight that she didn't hear Yuto come back, so she shrieked when he held a can up to her face and said, "One soda, coming up."

Fortunately Yuto's lightning reflexes saved the can from flying as she flailed her arms in shock.

She pouted as he laughed loudly at her reaction, "Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack." Yuki swiftly regained her composure as her attention shifted back to the telescope, "Anyway, you have to see this! I know the sun's still up, but, well, you'll have to see for yourself."

She scooted over so he could do so, gratefully taking the proffered can. Looking down, First noticed that it had already been opened, "Oh, did you drink out of it? Did you give me your can, darling?"

He shook his head as he put his eye up to the eyepiece, "No, I just noticed you were busy and figured I'd make it easier on you."

She pecked him on the cheek, "Aw, that was so sweet of you, thanks Yuto."

She cuddled up to him as he looked into the scope, giggling at the awed looks he made as he looked at the sky.

"This is so romantic, all we're missing is a risque meeting in a hotel and we're gold."

His eyes flicked toward her for a second before returning to the telescope, "And what makes you say that?"

Yuki giggled, "Well, isn't that how these types of things end? I figured you had something like that planned when I saw the bag." He stiffened as she said that, but relaxed as she didn't sound upset at the idea." We got married in a hotel but we've never stayed in one, so I was kinda feeling like I was missing out on the experience."

Yuto looked at her exasperatedly, "Did you have to spoil my plans for the evening? It was going to be Grand."

She bumped his shoulder, "Hey, we can still do it though, right? I wouldn't want to miss out on your grand plans for the evening." She smiled as she teased him, letting him know she wasn't upset with the surprise change.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "Alright, I know when I'm beat. The hotel is a bit away from here, but no bus goes that way, so this was the closest we could get to there." His eyes told a story she couldn't read, and she wondered what he was thinking as they sat there for next hour, watching the sun set and alternating which used the telescope.

POV Change: Yuto

Hana had only taken a sip at most of the can, not enough for it to take immediate effect, but enough to induce drowsiness faster. So here he was, hefting his unconscious wife on his back as he made his way to the abandoned Grand Hotel his family once owned.

He had nearly had a heart attack when she had made that random comment about going to a hotel, but when she laughed afterward he knew she was just having fun. Yuto would have to be careful to make sure no one saw them. He was sad he had to lie to her about the bus, but he couldn't have her know he was trying to protect her. After all, the other Diary users out there were after his honey, and the only way he could keep her safe was by making sure that they never found them.

He wondered if he was forgetting something, but shrugged it off. After all, it wasn't like there was anyone else that would be after them, right? No one else had his Hana's best interests at heart except Mama-Rea and as much as he loved her he couldn't trust her to keep his flower safe. She would be powerless against those with Diaries.

"No Yuto," he stopped as he heard her voice, "Not so rough,I have to go to school tomorrow." He blushed as he figured out what she was dreaming about, and it was then he registered the slightly breathy tone to her voice. He didn't realize his goddess dreamed about him like that, although after yesterday morning, he had a feeling it would be highlighting his dreams for week, if not years.

After a couple more hours walking he made it to the Grand Hotel, and made his way to the basement where he had already set up some supplies during the time Hana was in the hospital. Visiting hours had some uses after all, it seems. He still cursed the hospital staff for keeping him away from her.

Placing her on the bed, he stroked her hair before he left, going out to set traps in the other buildings in the area. He knew how some would think, and so he was going to do all he could to hinder and/or kill those who thought they could take his Hana from him. All of them could just die!

He returned a few hours later, just in time to see his goddess wake up with a big stretch, her mouth open wide as she yawned. She rubbed her eyes as she licked her lips, looking around wearily before catching sight of him, upon which her face broke out into a smile. "Yuto! Where were you? And where are we?" She asked as she looked around, confusion written on her face as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings.

*Lemon Warning*

Instead of answering, he kissed her, pushing her back on the bed, pinning her hands above her head. When he broke away, she breathed in deeply, "Yuto, what's gotten into yo-ohhhhh." she moaned as he sucked on her neck and began kneading her breasts through her clothes It wasn't long before she wasn't able to even formulate a coherent sentence as he stripped her of them and drove into her just as he did the previous morning, her already wet from her earlier dreams.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he thrust, each time his push was met by her thrusting hips as she became wrapped up in the intensity of her lover's passion.

He bowed his head and enveloped the top of her right breast with his mouth, swirling around the top with his tongue before lightly biting down on her nipple, drawing a gasp at the mixture of pain and pleasure signals being sent to her brain. The pleasure won out as she grasped his head with her hands and held it at her chest, something he had no trouble doing as he continued to lick and nip her nipple before moving on to her left breast and giving it the same treatment, all the while still thrusting.

The first orgasm came then, as she cried out his name, fingers digging into his back as she cummed. That wasn't the end of it though, as he kept thrusting into her as she came down from her high, white spots still dotting her vision.

And then he found her g-spot, and with one thrust she was over the edge again. Panting in exhaustion from having two back-to-back, she lay there as he kept going, and finally he climaxed, his sperm coating her inner walls white for the second time in as many days.

He pulled out with a wet plop, the girl of his dreams lying there spent and with his and her cum pouring out of her.

*Lemon End*

Drawing a blanket over her, he kissed her forehead, and watched as she fell asleep. After watching her chest rise and fall a few times, he gathered her clothes and walked out of the room, heading over to the trap room where the manikin he would use to trap pursuers was.

He took Hana's clothes and dressed the manikin in them, putting the long wig on top. He stepped back, sad that such beautiful clothes would be wasted on such a thing, but until his queen was safe from the others this is what he would have to do.

* * *

A couple days later, Hana was sleeping off another bout of lovemaking, and so wasn't aware of the interlopers. He scowled. He didn't care who they were, anyone that tried to take his Hana from him would die!

Not even bothering to get dressed beyond his boxers, he went to the command room, where he had a series of monitors set up as well as the controls for all his traps. Looking at the screens that were connected to the many cameras he had set up in the surrounding buildings that still had power. He didn't recognize a couple of them, so he prepared a trap to kill them off, but then he remembered Hana's heartfelt plea for a friend, and recalled that she had given her number to Hinata, her only female friend. Despite the girl's attempt to kill her. Yuto's head hurt, but he shrugged it off in favor of a new plan.

He would let his goddess keep her friend, and so he took Hana's phone and texted her, telling Hinata where they could be found, but told her the location of the trap room. It would be easier to incapacitate her that way.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the girl to appear, and raced to the manikin, only for him to appear behind her and knock her out. After tying her up, he took Hinata's phone and texted the girl's traitorous friend. After all, anyone that would hurt his dear Hana deserved death, so he felt no reason to keep her alive.

Slinging her over his shoulder, Yuto retreated to the command room,. The command chair was like a throne, with 2 similar ones with lower backs on either side, a skull sitting in each, one without hair and the other long. Watching the screens, while happy he caught some flies, was annoyed that they were even in the area to be caught in the first place. It seemed he hadn't been as careful as he thought.

They were quick to fall prey to the false-Hana, and soon the door slammed shut behind them and he activated the gas trap.

The silver-haired one seemed calm, he wondered how long that would last.

* * *

And so another chapter ends, see you all next week and to those facing awful ice storms recently, I wish you safe travels whenever you're forced to traverse the roads.


	14. Episode 14

A/N: Back again, and once again thanks for sticking with it this far.

* * *

Episode 14:

POV: Yuto

Leaving the 3 to die of asphyxiation, Yuto made some food and put them on a tray before heading to Hana's room which was just off the command room. He blushed as he took in her naked form, the blanket having fallen off as she twisted in her sleep.

Leaning over her, he kissed her neck, although she only mumbled in her sleep before turning over. He frowned, "Wakey wakey, it's dinner time."

She grumbled slightly as she opened an eye, "Yutooooo, I was sleeping, did you have to wake me up now?"

He nodded resolutely, "Yes, you need to keep up your strength, after all. I made your favorite, beef stew with extra carrots. Yummy."

Hana sighed, "Did you have to say it that way? I'm not a little kid."

He grinned unrepentantly, "I have to practice for out kids, don't I?"

She blushed, "We-we're only 16, don't you think it's a little early to be thinking about kids?"

He smiled at her, "It's never too early to plan ahead."

She seemed to consider this for a moment before sighing in resignation, "Fine, I guess you have a point. But," she looked up at him with stern eyes, "You are NOT naming them, am I understood?"

He gaped at her, "What? Why not?" He didn't whine. He DIDN'T!

She wagged her finger at him, "Because I remember that time I spent at your house, and all the toys you showed me. I can't quite understand why you named your teddy bear Mr. Wollycorpa but if that's the norm for you than I want our children to have normal-sounding names, thank you very much."

She kept staring at him seriously as he kept making unintelligible noises before her face cracked and a pealing laugh burst out of her.

He pouted at her. Mr. Wollycorpa was a fine name for a teddy bear!

Shaking his head he grabbed the spoon off the tray and scooped up some stew, holding it up to her face, he looked at her expectantly. Sighing again, she opened her mouth and let him insert the spoon. She chewed a bit before the process was repeated until the tray was empty. She patted her belly and gave a satisfied burp. Hana blushed, raised a hand to her mouth, "Excuse me."

This time it was Yuto's turn to laugh, although it quickly faded as he heard some muffled moans from the other room. He knew who it was, he had taped Hinata's mouth shut to keep Hana from being aware of what he had done for the moment. She'd be let go when Hana was safe and not a moment before.

Hana quirked her head at the noise, "What was that?"

Yuto waved it off, "It's just some rodents. I'll deal with it shortly."

She nodded, "Okay, come back to bed soon, I sleep better knowing your with me."

He smiled at her reassuredly, "I'll always come back to you, sweetie. Don't worry, I'll be back soon." She leaned up for a kiss that he was happy to reciprocate and then he was gone.

He glared down at Hinata, "Stop making so much noise, you're disturbing my Hana." Yuto was about to put a second pair of tape over her mouth when the monitors speakers crackled.

"Testing, testing. 1,2,3." He looked over at the screen with a blank expression, locking on to the silver teen with the baggy jacket who was speaking. "Afraid the gig is up. Before you cut me off, answer me this. Having tea with a pair of skulls up there per chance?" He was just about to turn off the sound when he paused.

"Excuse me?"

"You should know me better than that. You think I've been collecting moss since you two appeared to slip the surly bonds of Earth? I went to your house. Thought it would be a good idea to take a second look at that pit. Good thing, cause this go round I hit pay dirt, so to speak. Bodies. Funny thing, though. There were three of them; two of their heads missing. Hewn like firewood. Quite recently. Now you tell me that's a big stretch to assume that you're toting them around like tchotchkes."

With each word the silver-headed teen spoke Yuto's anger grew.

"You woke them up! My parents were sleeping and you woke them up!"

"I am many things, but not disrespectful of the dead. I didn't just leave them exposed to the elements."

The murderous bitch spoke then, "You put them back where you found them?" God, even her voice irritated him.

"Cut the chit-chat and get on with it already!" The dumb-looking one barked.

"Relax, I'm trying to get to the bottom of things. There's still something about this that doesn't fit no matter how I slice it. Help a guy out on this one, Yuto. We've got three corpses laid to rest in your backyard. Two sans craniums; one fully intact. If the two are your parents as you say, fine. Who's contestant number 3? You do know, right? Tell you what, leave it for now. Let's negotiate."

But Yuto was done listening to him speak. He dared to violate his resting parents and try to take his Hana from him?! "You're all dead."

"Unless you're cool with me keying the fuzz in to your backyard spa, you'll nix the gas and let us out of here." The smug bastard just didn't know when to quit, "I mean, mommy and daddy's corpses taking a dirt nap while you play house with their skulls, you want that on the DL, right?"

"If you're trying to tick him off, I think it worked."

"Nice dude. Now he's going to ignore us as we die."

"I'm at full bars. Better give me an answer." He sounded so smug about it, but all Yuto felt like doing was laugh, so he did.

"Hahahahahaha!"

The two sidekicks looked confused at the sound, but the silver one remained poised.

"You're so random! What are you talking about?"

"I'd be happy to repeat what's at stake if you need clarification."

"At stake? Sorry, but I need to return of my darling, you strangers are weirding me out. Radio silence, people!"

The dumb one was panicked as he cried out "Wait, no no no, I...!"

* * *

POV Change: 3rd Person

"Fantastic. What a selective memory. Rather literally in this case, I'm afraid."

"Aw shit."

"What'd she do?"

"She's turned the gas full throttle!"

"You crazy bitch. I swear to god!"

"This isn't...! I'm not one of these people; This isn't how I should go!" The crazy idiot grabbed at his head, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I'm going to die!" He then got a strange gleam in his eyes, "Screw this. I'm posting my will. Don't try to sell me anymore of your optimism bullshit."

* * *

POV Change: Yuto

Yuto was about to walk away when he heard something strange, the crackling of a phone, a Future Diary, to be precise. But there wasn't any nearby, his or Hana's Diary would have told him if that were the case, so he tuned back in to the goings on in that room, and heard the news that Kousaka somehow acquired a new Diary.

"According to this I'm an apprentice Diary User?" His cry of shock was echoed in Yuto's head, but then he remembered something about the Eighth's Diary, and wrote it off. Nothing had really changed, so it made sense that that Diary functioned the same as well.

"Look! I'm not yanking ya! My phone totally tells the future now! Anybody else here think this is totally surreal?" It crackled again, "You're going to hoist me on your shoulders so I can escape through the vents!"

"What's a Kousaka Kick?"

"'I rock'?"

"This is crazy."

"Well, it's better than my plan was."

"I say go for it. What have we got to lose?"

"Wait what?"

"Yeah!" the two said in concert.

Yuto frowned. This would not do.

"Yuto?"

He froze. He had forgotten his Hana! Yuto rushed from the command room to Hana's to see her sitting up with a frantic look on her face. She lunged at him when she saw him her arms wrapping around him as she cried into his chest.

"W-where were you? You s-said you'd be here!" Her cries broke his heart, he HAD promised, and he hurt her. Even if it hadn't been physically.

So as he calmed her down, he was unable to react as the sound of a grate falling to the ground could be heard. His eyes narrowed. Setting her on the bed and wrapping the blanket around her, he went out and stared in fury at the sight of the dumb one who had managed to make it through the vents and had just gotten the tape off Hinata's mouth.

* * *

POV Change: Kousaka

Kousaka was gleeful as he performed his Kousaka Kick™ for the second time, launching it down to the floor that he quickly jumped down to. He looked about, a wide smile on his face as he looked around, but a muffled moan got his attention, and his eyes swept the room before landing on the shackled form of Hinata who was stuck in a chair on the wall opposite the exit.

"Woah! Psycho got you?"

He raced over and tore off the duct-tape. "Ow! Don't tear it off so fast, dumbass!" Her eyes gained an edge as she struggled against the bonds again but like before gave it up as hopeless, "You have to be careful, I don't think Yuki even knows what's going on, she's being kept in the other room and Yuto is almost always with her."

Kousaka's eyes widened, "You've seen her?"

She shook her head, "No, I think he's trying to keep her unaware. I am glad that she has her own room, though, as I don't even want to think what would happen if I had to watch them go at it. Hearing them is bad enough."

"'Go at it?' 'Hear them?' What do you mean?" The confusion was nearly visible as he asked her what she meant.

Hinata blushed furiously, glaring up at him, "Sex, you idiot! They have sex so often it's not even funny."

He could almost feel steam coming out of his ears as his brain was assaulted by images he _really_ didn't need in his head. He was about to untie her when he heard a door close behind him with a click. He looked up to see Yuto walking towards him, although there was something off...

"Dude, what do you have against clothes?"

"I don't know who you are, but you aren't welcome here."

Deciding to ignore the strangeness of that, he walked over to the middle of the chairs and turned to face Yuto with a smug grin,"Parties over now, dude. My phone now gives me the pertinent skinny on what's about to happen. Like, in what ways I'll be amazing."

Yuto scoffed, "You know, your Diary isn't quite as great as you think it is."

"Well, I"m getting Yuki and Hinata out of here whether you like it or not, my Diary says so. And I got to say, it's pretty awesome when all you need to be the hero is follow a set of instructions, right?"

"There's an easier way. Back up and I'll take them out of here without kicking your ass. Unless you want to go mano a mano with the Kousaka King Diary."

"Fine... I give up. His majesty needs the keys to his kingdom I assume."

Kousaka tried to find some hint of sarcasm in the other male's words, but shrugged it off in the end, seeing as his Diary hadn't changed so that meant he would still be amazing and save the day. "To what?"

"One unlocks the control console, which by the way you'll need if you want to release your friends in time. The other unlocks Hinata's shacklesa. I'm going to toss the one to the controls over to you, okay?"

"And the one to the door?"

"It'll sit right there for the moment, insurance as I retrieve dear old mom and dad., you understand. If that's not cool, it's time to speak up."

"I'd focus on getting my teammates some fresh air; the girl can be worried about once they're in the clear."

"Huh! We have got ourselves a deal." Yuto tossed the key to him, and he caught it easily.

"Break a leg." The malice in the the other male's tone going over his head.

"Whatever." He raced over to the console and looked frantically for the key slot, and sure enough, "And... score! Boyah! The door's unlocked! You're welcome. Now commencing hero deal part deux."

He turned around only to find Yuto staring him down with a crossbow pointed right at him. Kousaka was still shocked when he felt pain in his right leg, falling to his knees as he registered the bolt in his thigh.

"But, this wasn't..." he gasped in pain. His Diary hadn't told him this would happen!

"How do you suppose Diary users fight if they all have a window into the future?" The rhetorical statement made him panic as he had an idea how this would be ending.

"Look, I'm begging you not to kill me, please."

But Yuto continued on, ignoring his words. "A Diary that only tells you when you've won is a liability. It's funny, though,you're a perfect match. You're both so obsessed with badass-ness that there's no thought for the times when you fall a bit short. Well, what's taking you so long? Free her like your Diary says. Just be prepared to die after you finish the job. C'mon, times a wasting." A Diary crackled, "Ugh, now what?"

Yuto pulled out his Diary and checked it, but the sound of a door opening caused him to freeze. He had forgotten the door to Hana's room only locked on this side, not hers.

Kousaka looked up with pain-filled eyes at the blanket-covered form of Yuki that appeared in the doorway. She yawned, "Yuto? What's going on? Why's it so dark in here?"

"Wait, Hana don't!" The pinkette tried to stop her but it was too late as a switch was flipped and light flooded the room.

Her eyes widened in shock at the sight before her. Yuki's head kept swinging between him, Hinata and Yuto trying to process what was going on in front of her, and coming up short.

"Yuki! Yuto tied me up and tried to kill the others!"

The blanket in her hands slipped, revealing her nude form to the others in the room. Kousaka blushed furiously, blood dripping out of his nose as he took her in before Hinata yelled at him to look away, which he did in a hurry.

"What is it with you people and not wearing clothes?"

It seemed to have an effect, as Yuki turned beet red and retreated back into her room, the door slamming behind her and the sound of a lock being turned. Everyone blinked as the door opened and a hand reached out and grabbed the blanket before the door shut and locked again.

The absurdity of the whole situation had caused Kousaka to forget about the bolt in his leg for a moment, and he somehow managed to untie Hinata before the pain overtook him again.

"Argh!"

Yuto spun around at the noise, crossbow trained on them, a hard look on his face. "And what do you think you're doing?"

They put their hands in the air, not wanting to set him off when the door to Yuki's room opened again, this time Yuki wearing her blanket in a slightly different way. She had ripped it into sections, crafting a breast-wrap and loincloth.

* * *

POV Change: Normal

It had taken a bit of work, but in the end she was able to make a temporary outfit. Yuki hadn't been very happy to wake up the other day to find all her clothes gone, but Yuto had assured her that he'd get another one just like it for her and that she didn't even need clothes at the time anyway. And that had been one of her favorite outfits, too!

After opening the door to see the other room again, she frowned at the sight before her as she hadn't known Yuto to threaten their friends before, although she could understand Kousaka considering what he did that day when Ninth bombed the school. She was curious about Hinata, though. After all, she liked to think they were friends, so why would he tie her up?

But then her eyes caught sight of something behind the track member, and froze.

It was perfectly natural to get freaked out by seeing a couple skulls just sitting nonchalantly on some chairs. There is nothing normal about it, and the one with the long hair gave her the creeps. Yuki didn't know who it belonged to, but she got the evil vibe off of it.

Her eyes were shadowed as Yuto looked at her , a nervous look on his face as he spoke, "H-Hana?"

"Yuto." One simple word was all it took for him to cringe, and a light of understanding overtook Hinata as she realized the implications of what was happening before her eyes.

Yuki walked over slowly and deliberately and raised her hand. He flinched, eyes closed only to squawk when he felt her pull on his cheek. She looked at him sternly, "Yuto, what have I told you about killing friends?"

He toed the ground, "Not to." He perked up, "But this idiot isn't your friend, nor the other two!"

She cocked her head, "Other two? Yuto, who else is here?"

He blushed, but Hinata beat him to answering, "Akise and Mao!"

Yuki waved her hand dismissively at the brunette, "Hush. I'm talking to my husband." The look of "She married him?!" plastered on both Kousaka and Hinata's faces was priceless. That and the fact that it was only now that they noticed the glint of metal on her hand that could only belong to a ring. "Now darling, who are the other two?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times as he tried to regain some semblance of self-control, "I don't recognize the silver one but the other is the murderous bitch who tried to knife you."

"Hey! Mao is not a murderous bitch!"

"Be quiet!"

"Yes ma'am."

By this point Akise and Mao had actually shown up at the door, and were equally flabbergasted by how Yuki was taking charge.

"Yuto, I thought we agreed that killing our friends was a no-no?" The way she was talking to him like he was a naughty child drove home how irritated she was. He looked down in shame. She sighed, "What am I going to do with you?" she asked sardonically. She stroked his cheek with the back of her fingers before drawing him down to kiss his forehead.

The others looked away embarrassed.

"Honey, I know the world is dangerous, I've known it since long before you came into my life. Locking me away won't keep me safe forever; sooner or later someone or some thing will come along and my life will be threatened again. I'm sorry, Yuto, but it's time to go."

And with that she walked over and grabbed the key to Mao's restraints and released her before going over to Kousaka and helping him up. Hinata was quick to lend a shoulder as they each took an arm and started to walk out of the room.

"Don't go! We promised to fight together, didn't we? We'll never survive if we don't work together!"

Yuki stopped, drawing looks of confusion from the others as she motioned for Akise to take over for her. She stepped back to Yuto, smiling sadly at the others.

"Yuki?"

"I'm sorry, everyone. I know you came here for me but I vowed to stick with him through thick and thin, tough times and bad. How could I call myself his wife if I walked away now?"

"Hana." The tearful name spilled forth from said husband, as a frown overtook Akise.

"You don't understand what's going on, do you?"

"I understand perfectly. I love him, and the fact that he hid me in what equated to an underground bunker doesn't change that. Please understand, I deeply appreciate what you all attempted to do, but my place is with him, no matter where it leads."

Yuto smiled bashfully hearing that.

"That being said, he will be on the couch for a few days."

"Hana!" he looked horrified at the thought.

She whapped him upside the head, "No, Yuto. While I might not be a genius, I know what you tried to do. Did you think I wouldn't notice the pills in my soda? Mom took them for three months after she got divorced, and I admit I was curious about their effects so I tried a couple. I was out like a light after the second one. I recognized it immediately when I heard the can rattle."

He actually blushed as he realized he hadn't planned on her being that attentive. Akise looked impressed that she was aware enough to notice such things, and it was that look that drove her next action.

Reaching up, she tweaked the silverette's ear, earning a cry of pain, "And don't think I didn't notice that you were deliberately provoking him. What reason could you possibly have to annoy the person with the weapon?"

"Yuki if you'd just let me explain... ow!" She twisted the ear.

"Answer is there isn't one, smart guy! Honestly, you're the only person who could get Yuto into this kind of frenzy. Just because I tend to take a backseat in these types of situations doesn't mean I'm afraid to speak up if you all act like idiots. No offense, Hinata, but did you have to bring the one with delusions of grandeur and the wannabe-detective?"

Hinata sighed, "We got free vouchers to a spa, what were we supposed to do, turn them down? And besides, by the time we were told you were missing, we had already spent a couple days there, and it would have been rude to say no after he treated us."

Yukihana let go of Akise's ear, whereupon he started rubbing it gently while pouting at her rough handling.

She looked at her husband with stern eyes, "Now Yuto, where are my clothes?" She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, "I'm waiting."

He gulped, "I-I'll get them for you!" And off he went.

Kousaka perked up noticeably, "Hey, why don't we lock him in his own trapped room? That'd be wicked karma."

It took all she had not to bend him over her knee, but as he was already suffering from a crossbow bolt to the leg, she didn't think more pain was the answer. She'd save it for later.

The fact a shiver went down said runner's back after she thought that was purely coincidental.

"Now dear, I know I called you an idiot, but did you have to take to the role so enthusiastically?"

The wince on the other two's faces at the burn was more than enough for her.

It wasn't long before Yuto returned with clothes in hand, and she was quick to change into them (in her room, of course. No need to give Kousaka more of a show than he already had.).

Yuto also got dressed, and while the others were eyeing him suspiciously they made no moves against him.

Of course, none of them expected Mao to make a move as they all walked to the exit. She apparently had managed to squirrel away a knife as she grabbed Yuki and held it up to her neck, intimately reminding her captive of the last time at the observatory.

"Mao!? What are you doing?" Hinata looked at her friend in shock.

The purple-haired girl glared at Yuto. "We can't trust Yuto not to break his word, this is the only way."

Yuki was frozen in shock, she thought they had come to rescue her but then why was she doing this?

Akise sighed in exasperation, and Yuki hoped he would talk her down, "Mao, there are easier ways to ensure one's loyalty, none of which require holding a knife to someone's throat."

The way he said it though made her heart drop to her stomach. He wasn't on her side at all.

"Let her go, bitch." The steel in Yuto's voice urged Mao to make a show, as she pressed the blade into her neck, earning a whimper of pain as it penetrated and blood trickled out.

She didn't even need to see him to know her husband was furious.

"I don't trust you, and after what you put us through today I think I'm justified." She started walked again, forcing Yuki to move with her if she didn't want her neck slit open.

"Y-uto," she gasped. Struggling against Mao had the knife dig in, sending a fresh wave of pain.

"I'll save you, you'll see. Wait for me." And with that he was gone. She knew he couldn't do anything right then, especially after what she told him earlier, but it didn't hurt any less to see him leave her behind. A tear rolled down her cheek as she was led out of the Grand Hotel and into Nishijima's waiting vehicle.

He scolded the girl for her violent method when the situation had already been resolved relatively peacefully but couldn't do much else as Yuto was already long gone and they needed to get her to a hospital anyway to get her checked due to her time in captivity, even if she hadn't been aware it was at the time.

She was glaring out the window in silence as Masumi drove, and Akise seemed to have an idea what she was thinking about, "I know it seems like it was bad, but beyond you holding his hand for the rest of this death game I don't think you could stop him from killing. And seeing as he considers everyone who gets between the two of you a threat, the options were extremely limited in how we could guarantee our safe passage outside."

Yuki didn't respond, although her eyes did narrow as a car passed the other way, the three inside all turning to look at her as they drove past.

"Friends of yours?"

She scoffed, "If all you're going to do is ask dumb questions, I'm going to take a nap."

Which she did, and so doing didn't hear her phone crackle, signaling the future had changed once again.

* * *

And finis! R&R and all that jazz, until next week!


	15. Episode 15

A/N: Sorry for posting late, I was having stomach pains all day yesterday and then I had to go to work and I was really out of it. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Episode 15:

Yuki was sitting on her bed at home, moping as she had a guard posted in front of her house in case Yuto came for her in the hopes of catching him. She was looking at her Diary, hoping that she'd see him again and perked up at the announcement for today.

When her phone buzzed, she was confused as she had been blocking Akise and the others ever since they had brought her back at knifepoint. She scowled when she saw it was Deus. She hadn't been happy since she discovered him peeping on her. Immortal being or not, peeping on a teenage girl in the bathroom is NOT appropriate.

Of course, the scowl vanished when she read the part about going to the Sanctuary of Causality and she hurried into the necessary state of mind to go. She could care less about the rest of the message, the only thing that mattered was seeing Yuto.

When the remaining Diary users appeared, Yuki stared tearfully at her beloved, as he stared back at her.

As Deus explained the situation, and the nature of the Apprentice Diaries, Yuki kept only half an ear as she looked pleadingly at Yuto.

Soon enough the meeting ended, and as the other holders disappeared, she rushed to Yuto's side, burying her head in his neck as she cried. His arms wrapped around her in an instant, one hand rubbing her back and the other cradling her head.

Yuto didn't waste any time when he realized she had calmed slightly and kissed her, earning a moan from his young wife.

When they broke for air, she looked up at him with wet eyes, "I missed you, Yuto."

He smiled, "And I you, my love." She blushed prettily, mouth opening to say the same only for him to plunge his tongue inside, initiating a short-lived battle that she gracefully surrendered, letting him ravage her mouth for a couple minutes before they both parted, gasping for air.

Yuki leaned her head on his shoulder with a shy smile on her face as he held her close. Then a thought occurred to her that caused Yuki to look up at him worriedly, "You don't think I went with them willingly, do you? I swear I never would have helped them if I knew Mao would do that."

He responded by tightening his hold, shushing her gently, "Don't worry, I know. My only regret is that I didn't kill the bitch when I had the chance."

For anyone else, she would have protested, but Mao had nearly killed her this time, whether she would have followed through with her threat or not was irrelevant. That knife hurt! So she held her tongue on all the words she wished she could say about the chit. Although it seemed that Yuto caught what she was thinking as he laughed, his rumbling chest soothing her even as she blushed in embarrassment.

She removed herself from his arms, taking a couple steps back as she fidgeted nervously.

"What's wrong, Hana?" The gentleness in his voice caused her to flinch, whereupon he blinked in confusion.

Yuki cleared her throat awkwardly, "You know how we were talking about naming our kids before?" At his nod she continued, "W-well, we're going to need one sooner than later." She had learned she was pregnant after they arrived at the hospital. Nishijima was insistent that she get checked out as the place she was being held in wasn't exactly sanitary.

Naturally her mom (she had shown up shortly after they did, the police informing her her daughter had been found and was being checked over) squealed and started bouncing around the room at the news, much to the confusion of the others as they couldn't quite understand why she'd be happy about her child having a kid at such a young age, married or not. She didn't deign to answer them, instead choosing to start rattling off potential names and what room they'd decorate and what decorations they'd use... You get the idea.

Yuto didn't even look at his Diary. Yuto grinned at her, "It's alright, honey, I already knew that."

"Y-you did? O-oh yeah, your Diary..." she chuckled nervously. She looked up at him through her fringe, "You..." Yuki cut herself off, then started again, "You aren't mad?"

"How could I ever be upset about something like this? We're making out own family, this is the happiest day of my life!" He knelt in front of her, placing his ear on her stomach.

She giggled, "You know, it's a bit too early to hear anything. I'm only a couple weeks along."

Yuto shifted to sit on the floor, placing her in his lap. " Then I guess I'll just have to settle for this." They stayed that way for a while, enjoying their time together. Her yawn frightened her, "No! I don't want to go to sleep!"

"Shh, it'll be alright. We'll find each other in the real world, just you wait and see. I won't rest til we are together again."

She nodded, fighting another yawn as her eyes began to droop. "I haven't slept well since... that day."

Yuto pressed a kiss to her crown, "We will be together again, Hana, no matter who I have to go through to make it happen."

Sighing in content, she snuggled into his chest, and not long after, her own was rising and falling in the rhythm of sleep.

* * *

The next day, her kidnappers had her surrounded in a storage room at school. She sat on a stack of gym mats with her back facing them.

Akise sighed, "You know, Yuki, one of these days you're going to have to speak to us." Silence. "This isn't going to help you survive, you know."

Nothing was said for a few seconds before Yuki finally spoke, albeit in a whisper, "I was surviving quite well with Yuto. I didn't need you to 'rescue' me."

"Now now, Yuki, there's no need for that. What would you have done if more Diary users had shown up?"

"Yuto would have taken care of them, like he always does."

"Really? I was under the impression that you were the one who killed all of them."

She bristled, "If you really think that you're not as smart as I thought."

"They'll invade my house in 3 days."

"Tracking us from afar doesn't work anymore. They're going to be anxious to make a move."

"The question is, how do we keep our sundry enemies at bay? Nishijima already assigned some guards, which is a fair start."

"We need to stash Yuki where they're not going to look."

"A little bird told me that Kousaka's house would be the perfect spot to hide her."

"Wha?"

"Alright, then everything's settled."

"What do you mean it's settled? Do you have any idea what my parents would do if they found out I brought a girl over for the night?"

"Hmm, he does have a point." Mao cupped her chin in thought.

"Yeah," Hinata nodded, "He does have that sketchy look about him."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Kousaka squawked in indignation.

Choosing to ignore them, Akise turned to Yuki, "Does that plan get your seal of approval? Wait, don't answer, we all know who'd you prefer to guard you."

"Yeah, that psycho."

"He's not a psycho!" She roared, rising to her feet with fire in her eyes, "He's the sweetest person I have ever met. He's never hurt me, not even once, which is more than I can say for any of you!"

The way they all flinched did nothing for her temper.

She didn't want anything to do with them. If they had just left them alone, she wouldn't be dealing with this mess right now (she ignored the fact that she wasn't even aware she had for all intents and purposes been kidnapped by Yuto).

In the evening of the same day, Yuki was on the phone with Akise (he had stubbornly gotten her to remove the block she had on his number).

"Considering all that's occurred, I took the liberty of calling our benefactor, and your protection detail will now be round-the-clock for the next three days. We'll come up with a plan to fight off those three subordinate Diary users." When she didn't say anything, he continued, "I know you think Yuto will protect you, but the fact of the matter is that he is a loose cannon, it's impossible to know exactly what he'll do. Not even the Diaries work effectively against him."

"And yet you drove him away!"

"Your misplaced loyalty aside, we can never know exactly what will happen when he gets involved, so who's to say he doesn't consider you coming with us a betrayal?"

"You know nothing about me, and even less about him if you think that's true." She was quite proud of herself for not screaming into the phone. "Good night, Akise. Don't call me unless it's an emergency." And promptly hung up, ignoring his pleas for her to listen to 'reason'.

She stayed in that position for a bit before she heard movement downstairs. Checking her Diary, she was relieved to learn it was just her mom.

Going down the stairs, she heard noise in the kitchen just as her Diary told her she would, and pushed the flap back as she looked in.

"Mom?"

And sure enough Rea Amano was there at the stove, serving herself some food. She turned around with a smile.

"Hey, just in time. Grab a plate."

 _The last time mom and me had a meal together, we owed the meal to Yuto..._

"So... um..."

Rea smiled, "Go ahead."

"Well, aren't you going to ask why the police wanted Yuto and me? I mean..."

She swallowed her bite, "Tell you what, you've been going through a rough patch lately and I'm only going to make it worse by picking at it. If you want to unburden your soul then have at it. Otherwise I'll wait for you to clue me in. That said, don't leave me in the dark forever. We got a deal?"

Yuki nodded, "Yeah." They continued to eat in silence, but then something occurred to her, "Um, question, isn't that like a potato salad?"

They both turned their heads to look at it.

"Totally. The three of us would have exploded trying to eat it."

"Three of us?" She couldn't help the anxious look behind her, hoping against hope to see her beloved.

"Yuto couldn't stick around tonight."

"He was here?" With the cops looking for him she was worried they'd catch him, although she had a feeling that even if they did it wouldn't end with an arrest.

"Duh, who do you think made dinner? He said you'd need to be well-fed for what he has in store for you. Got to make sure you warm up to the occasion, huh?"

It took a second for her to figure out what she meant. Yuki blushed furiously, "Mom!"

Rea smirked, "What? We have to make sure my grandbaby's strong, don't we?"

* * *

Three days later...

"Let's go over the plan, shall we? First we deposit the redoubtably Yuki at Kousaka's house for safe-keeping. Nishijima sends in the cops. You'll be guarded round the clock."

"What good are the cops going to be against people who can know the future?"

"Let's just say, I've taken all that well into account."

"Home, twelve o'clock," Kousaka cut in before Akise could continue his mysterious act, pointing his finger forward with a dull look on his face.

"What!?" The chorus of disbelief from everyone not Akise and Masumi cried.

"Not too shabby." Akise, as usual, was cool as a cucumber.

"Can I just drive through the gate?"

"Sure."

"So all this is Kousaka's front yard?! You're filthy frigging rich dude!"

"Gramps was rich. I'm filthy frigging lucky."

"My plan requires ample space if it's going to work. After we've lured the enemy into this modest homestead, they will soon find themselves hoist by their own petard. Observe," He said as he pointed out the window.

"How's a cellphone tower gonna help us?" Hinata was skeptical.

"What if it were to malfunction while they attack?" And once again he ignored her.

"Oh yeah! If the tower doesn't work, they can't get updates from Eighth's server!"

"Exactly. They won't be privy to the future anymore." Nishijima drove up to the house/manor and let them out before moving to the side to park. Kousaka led them to the balcony, where Akise set up something he'd brought with him that had a few switches, only one uncovered while the others had a reddish protective covering obscuring them.

"Granted, this will only work against those with subordinate Diaries. This is a little something I threw together so we can disable the tower from up here."

Hours later, the sun was setting and an orange-pink hew took the sky when Yuki's Diary crackled.

She grudgingly told them what it said, "The Eighth's underlings are going to make a play for me in 3 minutes."

"You? What about us?"

"What do you have that would draw them? Nothing, that's what."

"Yuki," Akise said with a disappointed air, "Now is not the time to sow discord between those people trying to help you."

"Akise, there has never been a time where I welcomed your insights. Each time you've had one, you've gone behind my back, just because you're in front of me this time doesn't change that I still don't know everything that's going to happen to me."

"Squad A to HQ. We've got eyes on the target, they're on the property."

"They're here!"

"Hands at the ready, Yuki. But don't flip those switches til I give you the word." He raised a pair of slim binoculars to his eyes.

"Well? See them?"

"Not yet. But the night is still young. We need to make sure they're well away from the entrance so they don't simply retreat." The power in the house suddenly went down.

"What the hell? The powers out!"

"They're inside, flip the switch!"

Yuki could have told them this wouldn't end well. If the other Diary users were smart, they'd already be aware of the plan to cut them off. She flipped the switch anyway, knowing the outcome before she even moved her hand.

"Nothing happened!"

"Hate to break it to you guys, but I'm still rocking 3 bars over here."

"Of course! No power's running to the box!"

She tried to think of who was capable of such a thing, but considering only the 5 of them were aware of what they were doing... A smile broke out as a figure darted out of the house out onto the lawn, their pink hair a stark contrast with the surroundings.

"Yuto!" The others had to physically restrain her from going to him.

He smiled up at her, a knife in his hand. It didn't take long for her to figure out what had happened, but she was still confused. After all, while she might have married him she still didn't understand how he thought as well as she'd like.

"Don't worry, honeybunch, I'm going to save you. Oh, I've missed you, baby! You looking down on me down here is so romantic."

"Um, are you trying to emulate Romeo and Juliet? Cause I think I'd prefer to have a different ending."

A sly look overtook Akise as he leaned over the edge, "Yuto, Yuki said she'd prefer it if you come up here." At her questioning look, considering all he'd been saying about Yuto recently, he explained himself, "We're going to go to the cell tower to disable it manually. I know it's asking a lot, but I need you to keep him occupied. We can't have him running amok."

She glowered.

Akise walked off the balcony back into the house, "Step lively now, we haven't a moment to waste."

"You first," Kousaka said heroically.

As the pair ran across the driveway to the tower, Yuto appeared behind them. Considering that as soon as they were together Yuto melded their faces together Mao and Hinata looked away red-faced.

"Hana, why did you bind my hands?"

"Because we both know what else you want to do with that knife."

Seeing the pout thrown her way, she knew she was correct. Sure she wanted to do the same thing he did, but that was beside the point.

They walked to the inner balcony overlooking the front doors only to watch them fly open with a bang and two bodies come flying in, rolling across the ground.

"Nishijima!"

"Son of a bitch!"

Two people appeared in the doorway, one a black-haired woman with light purple eyes hidden behind sunglasses wearing a gray top with straps near the collar and white pants. A man stood to her right their left, not even wearing a shirt, his long brown hair rolled down his back and his front, his brown eyes likewise hidden by glasses and a white jacket unbuttoned revealing his toned physique.

It took all Yuki's willpower not to drool at the sight, something that the woman clearly caught.

"Ah, check it out, Marco, there's Yuki. That drab little pork-chop second from the left."

"Come on, Ai, she's no more than tofu on a good day."

"Did you just call me fat?"

The others stepped back, even Yuto, at the expression on her face. No one was quite sure how he got out of the bindings, but they'd worry about that later. His Diary in hand, his eyes widened and he took off into a nearby room and slammed the door shut behind him, the sound of a lock clicking reverberating through the large room.

The one called Ai smirked, "Yeah, what are you gonna do about it, chubby?"

Yuki smiled. Now, it should be noted that not many things can tick her off. Her weight just happens to be one of those things after all the incessant teasing she endured throughout her school experience.

Hinata and Mao shook their heads sadly. If there was one thing their school learned since Yuki started attending, it was this: if you want to live past high school, do NOT mention Yukihana Amano's weight.

Mai shivered; that smile was not friendly.

Marco on the other hand looked at his phone in confusion. Why was it telling him to run away?

He looked up, only to see Yuki in front of him, that eerie smile still on her face as she attacked. He tried quite valiantly to fight back, but to no avail. Ai rushed in to help him but all Yuki had to do was look at her and she decided it wasn't worth it. Then again, once she was done with Marco, she went after her.

Ai ran.

Yuki chased.

Ai tripped.

Yuki pounded her into the ground.

Marco got up and ran after them.

Yuki pounded him into the ground again.

The other cops and Nishijima stood a ways off, looking at the three of them awkwardly.

Just then Yuki's phone rang. She answered it angrily, "What do you want? I'm in the middle of something."

Silence stretched for a second before Akise answered, "Um, I think I'll just pull the switch now."

At that moment, Ai and Marco looked at their phones with disbelief before shrugging and pulling out a couple cigarettes, each taking one and lighting the others. They took a breath before exhaling, a cloud of smoke spewing forth.

"Eh, we were due for an upgrade anyway."

"You know, if you're going for the big reveal, you kinda messed up the timing."

Marco looked insulted, "What are you saying? There's no you knew I'm..."

She cut him off, "A true Diary user? It wasn't that hard to figure out. No other way you could have gotten this far with just Apprentice Diaries."

They growled before Marco pulled out a comb, styling his hair into something reminiscent of a torpedo along with the mullet at the back. Yuki tried to remember where she'd seen that bizarre hairstyle before, and smacked her fist on her open palm.

"I remember now! You're Seventh!"

Seventh face-planted as his thunder was stolen. Ai giggled, "Well, did you know I am Seventh as well?"

The couple spoke as one, "Our Exchange Diaries are the real deal!" They swapped phones before posing, holding the arm with the Diary parallel to the other, pointing the flipped open phones at Yuki. "Game over, chumps."

Yuto showed up then, the knife from before back in his hands as he appeared in front of her.

"Fair enough, we don't have any trouble taking you out first, boy." And then they took off their glasses and tongued each other. Everyone looked away embarrassed except for Yuto, who had his eyes narrowed to slits.

"I get that you love each other and all, but do you have to do that here? You act more like a teenager than I do."

"This is gonna be a rumble between couples. A love match. And our love has steamrolled way worse than the two of you!"

They swapped their Diaries again, and Ai moved into action, "This ain't going to take long if you guys just stand there!" She threw a knife at high speeds at Yuki, but Yuto was quick to deflect it, sending it spinning off to the side, nearly hitting an officer trying to edge around them to get behind the creepy couple.

"That was amazing!"

Yuto looked at her with adoring eyes.

"How about two at once?" Ai threw two more knives, but Yuto easily deflected them.

"What the hell?"

"Impossible!"

Ai then began to throw a large number of knives at extreme speeds, but once again Yuto rose to the occasion, knocking each one off course with ease.

"One compliment from Hana and I feel like I could deflect these knives without even trying."

"You're doing such a great job, just keep it up!"

Ai took a step back, "Hey lover, don't panic but I'm fresh outta shivs."

"Your kidding me, already?"

Yuto walked toward them, "I'm doing great, Hana said so."

"Uh-oh." Just as Yuto was about to stab one of them, a mysterious boy showed up and got them away. As a parting gift though they threw a shiv at Yuto, who, while being focused on them, was surprised by the third party, and the blade embedded itself into his shoulder. He collapsed, falling into unconsciousness.

Yuki was beside him in an instant, shaking him, "Yuto, wake up. Yuto!"

Nishijima ordered his men to arrest the trio, but all their efforts proved in vain as they escaped out of the Kousaka estate and into a waiting car that wasted no time driving off at high speeds, dust flying in its wake.

"We'll get you next time, just you wait and see!"

At that moment, the house erupted in flames. Fortunately Mao and Hinata had vacated it already and had watched the one-sided fight between couples. However, it seemed that it was all too much for Yuki, for as soon as it was verified that the Seventh Diary users were gone, she collapsed to the ground in a dead faint, falling on top of her husband.

* * *

The next day, Yuki woke up in a soft bed with a bandage around her head and a female doctor holding a stethoscope to her stomach. She had dark brown hair in a short ponytail at the back and bright green eyes. She also appeared quite slim, not having an overly muscled frame. When the woman noticed she was awake, she smiled, "Why hello there. How are you feeling? Any nausea, pain, indescribable need to use the restroom?"

She shook her head at the first two and paused at the third before shaking her head as well.

The doctor nodded, "Good. I'm Dr. Haruhi Furosawa, and I'll be looking after you during your time here. We want to provide the best care possible for you and your baby. You are quite lucky. If the smoke had actually been able to enter your system, it could have caused irreparable damage. Especially with your heart beating so fast. Also, in case you were wondering, your husband is in the room next door. While we could have kept you together, with the wound he suffered it was felt he have skilled surgeon on hand in the event that he woke up and tore the stitches or moved in his sleep and did the same. And the only surgeon we have on staff at the moment is a male."

Yuki nodded her head in understanding. She didn't know how she'd feel if she'd woken up to a strange man hovering over her comatose husband.

A knock sounded at the door. Dr. Furosawa went to see who it was and left the room, speaking in soft tones for a bit before poking her head back inside, "Some people claiming to be your friends are here, you wouldn't happen to know an Aru, Mao, Hinata would you? There's also Inspector Nishijima with them."

Yuki considered it for a moment, and the doctor caught on quickly to what she was doing as she turned her head back and said she was having trouble remembering them. Hinata burst through the door with a panicked look on her face, running over to her bed and grabbing her hands to shake them up and down (the doctor had warned them that if they shook her too hard it cause trouble for her as she was still recovering.

"Come on, Yuki! You can't forget me, I mean, think of all we've gone through together!" She then began rattling off their many shared experiences, the inspector and the doctor looking confused then embarrassed then flabbergasted at how open she was being as Yuki did her best not to laugh.

"...and of course you can't forget that time on the roller coaster!" The earnest look on her face proved too much for the bedridden girl.

"Pff, hahahaha!" Yuki grabbed her stomach and started laughing loudly, startling the newcomers (except Akise, but that's no surprise). She wiped some tears from her eyes as she calmed down, "Oh Hina, can't you tell when you're being pranked?"

Hinata turned pink as the others laughed, before attempting to drive her fist into Yuki's skull, only for her hand to be stopped by Nishijima. At his stern look, she looked away in defeat.

"I'd say this operation was a failure. We're lucky no one got hit by debris from the house when that fire broke out, but Yuto hasn't woken up yet." The defeated look on Akise's face drove home how badly things were.

A knock sounded at the door, they all looked over to see a nurse standing there with dark hair that covered her eyes, "Sir, I came to take a quick look at your head injury." She moved across the room, before sitting on the edge of the bed beside Yuki, "Speaking of, how'd you receive it anyway? Man? Woman? Both? What kind of Diary did they use?"

"I know it's you, Minene," Yuki deadpanned.

"Oh, spoil my fun why don't you?" She actually had the nerve to pout as she took off her wig, her long tied-up purple hair falling down her back as she did so. Still, I want to know everything about them, and you're going to give me the goods."

"You know, there are easier ways to get my attention. Although if you did it so you could have more time with Nishijima, I suppose I can't blame you. He does have that timeless quality about him."

Uryuu gaped at her for a second before yelling, "That is most certainly NOT why I am here, you little brat!"

Nishijima looked saddened at that, "Really?"

She stoutly refused to look at him, and in the end Yuki knew she had won this round.

* * *

A/N: Dr. Furosawa will only ever be a minor character and won't appear outside the hospital.

And that's a rap, thanks for reading and see you next week!


	16. Episode 16

A/N: Back for more, eh? Well, here's the latest chapter, I hope you like it.

* * *

Episode 16:

POV: Minene

Now, in another universe, a male Yuki would have been doing push-ups on the floor with Uryuu Minene on his back counting.

However, that's not the universe we're in at the moment, so ignore that.

In THIS universe, a female doctor was staring down Uryuu Minene while tapping her foot. Said terrorist-in-disguise was sweating profusely in an attempt to stay cool.

"Now I'm only going to ask one more time, who told you to come in here? As well as having been her doctor since she was a child, I was requested on behalf of Mrs. Gasai's mother to be her doctor for the duration of her stay and I have received no notice of any staff members (and I don't remember ever seeing you before) to help me. So who sent you?" The fierce look in her eyes had the others in the room scrambling to get away except for Nishijima who was offered up as a sacrifice.

"Better you than us. Besides, you're the detective, she's more likely to listen to you anyways," were Akise's reassuring words as he ran out the door.

He glared resentfully at the slightly ajar door to the room only to feel a pinprick of fear as he turned around to face the accusatory stare of said doctor.

"Well?" Dr. Furosawa's eyes bore into him, "I'm waiting."

He tugged on his collar nervously, until a thought occurred to him, and then he brightened up, much to the confusion of the women in the room, although Minene felt she was about be rescued like a damsel.

She HATED that feeling.

"You see the thing is," He started awkwardly but his next words were anything but. "After everything that's been going on lately we at the station have concluded that Mrs. Gasai (he stumbled slightly over the words) needed a training regimen to keep her in tip-top shape in the event that something similar occurs. After all, we can only do so much and the suspects have gotten past us on numerous occasion, not even going into the debacle with former Chief Kurusu.

And this lovely lady," Masumi motioned to Uryuu, who was doing her best not to punch his lights out at the comment, "was picked as the best person to be in charge of it. I apologize for not giving advance notice but we felt it would be better to keep this quiet in the event that the situation that brought her here does repeat in the hope that her attackers will underestimate her." He held up his hands in apology, "I am really sorry about this, but after everything that's happened to her we want to giver her all the advantages we can."

Dr. Furosawa looked unimpressed at Nishijima for a long minute, sweat breaking out as he maintained a smile. Just when he was about to break she nodded, "Fine, I guess I can accept that. But," she cut off his sigh of relief, making him stiffen again, "My patient is with child, and as such she cannot undergo anything too strenuous for the sake of the baby. You might say I'm being overly restrictive, and you'd be right, but considering what brought her here in the first place, I feel justified."

And just to get her point across, she gives Minene the sign for I'm-watching-you. Normally this wouldn't phase her, but something about this doctor scared the crap out of her, so while she hid her reaction, she nodded her understanding. She was posing as a nurse, after all.

Soon enough (but not quite for Minene) the doctor left, and Nishijima was left in the room with the two women. He smiled at Minene, who glowered at him, "Oh come on, what else was I supposed to do? She would have kicked you out otherwise."

She responded by stepping on his foot with her heeled one. He bounced around the room holding it after giving a cry of pain. "I'll give you props for talking your way out of it, but did you have to call me lovely?" Uryuu was oddly red as she said this, and Yuki suddenly had a revelation.

"You're a tsundere!" She cried, pointing her finger at the purple-haired fake-nurse.

Said-tsundere's eyes narrowed to slits as she turned to face her charge, "What was that, brat? Did you ask me to kill you?"

Normally this would cause her to be scared, but seeing the way she reacted to the doctor gave her some courage to say, "If you hurt me Dr. Furosawa will come back and beat you within an inch of your life."

"Oh yeah? And what makes you so certain she could?"

"She has a black belt in judo."

Silence overtook the room as Minene stared blankly at Yuki for several seconds before her eyes widened in shock, "What the fuck? There's no way that little slip of a woman could possibly...!"

"Couldn't possibly what?" The so-called slip-of-a-woman asked serenely. The not-so-hidden menace in her voice caused a shiver to go down Ninth's spine.

She turned to the now-open door where said doctor was standing with her arms crossed. At a startling 5 feet 7 inches tall she wasn't the kind of woman you'd normally call intimidating, but then you looked in her eyes and suddenly even if you were 7 feet tall you feel like an ant before a boot, and just as vulnerable.

Minene felt a cold sweat break out, her brain scrambling for some way to get herself out of this... Wait, that'll do! "C-couldn't reach that light bulb! Yeah, that was it." Inside she was disgusted with herself. Since when did she stutter?

The doctor smiled thinly, "Really now?" It didn't take a genius to figure out that she wasn't fooled. Still, she played along and with all the grace of a cat leapt into the air, one arm easily reaching up and touching the light fixture on the ceiling that was easily 14 feet from the floor.

Minene's gaping face brought a smug look onto Dr Haruhi's, and with a calm, "And now you know," she walked back out the door.

* * *

POV Change: Normal

As Uryuu stood there with her mouth wide open, Yuki tried her best not to laugh, but failed miserably as she gripped her gut and bent over, the hilarity of the situation proving too much for her.

Ninth glared at her, clearly wanting to pound her face in but too scared of retribution from her doctor to make the move.

"We'll start with pushups for now. After what I heard you did at the idiot's place the other day, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't actually need that much help, but he called in a favor so by god I'll whip you into shape if it kills you."

"Don't you mean kills you?"

"I meant what I said."

A couple minutes later saw Yuki on the floor doing pushups, with Uryuu standing over her with a whip, cracking it menacingly.

"Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen." She counted as the younger girl exercised.

The sound of the door opening again drew their attention, and Yuki looked up to the surprising sight of her estranged father.

The baffled look on his face as he took in the scene before him would have normally drawn a laugh from her lips, but all she could do was say, "Hello father."

The man, whose name was Kurou Amano, didn't seem to register his daughter's halfhearted greeting as he immediately started begging to get the same treatment as his daughter was from what he considered a dominatrix nurse.

Said dominatrix's eyebrow twitched as she complied, sitting on his back as he attempted push-ups as well, although he didn't even finish the first one before collapsing.

"You are beyond pathetic! Not even one?" She yelled as she kicked his prone form on the ground.

"That's right! Give it to me!" Yuki shivered as she learned her father was apparently a masochist.

After they (mostly) got over the incident, Kurou was sitting in a chair by the bed with Uryuu standing beside him with her arms crossed and narrowed eye trained on him.

He laughed and began to talk about inane things before attempting to latch on to Ninth, although she easily dodged and laughed as he plopped onto the floor face-first.

"I could have sworn mom said she filed for you not to have any visiting privileges..." Three heads snapped to the door where Dr. Furosawa was leaning against the frame, a security guard standing behind her. "I also remember hearing there was a restraining order put out for you to stay away from her."

The man's shocked face wasn't nearly as convincing as he probably thought it was.

And as he was dragged from the room pleading his ignorance, the women looked on with blank looks that were exchanged between them before they all burst out laughing.

"I was there a year ago when Rea (that's Yuki's mom) kicked him out of the house. He has a seriously gambling addiction and is a pedophile to boot."

The way her joy had turned to steel quickly transformed the atmosphere in the room.

Grimacing, Uryuu flicked her eye at Yuki and back at at the doctor who nodded in lieu of answering. "That's one sick bastard." And coming from her, that was saying something.

The next few minutes found Yuki getting changed into a workout attire consisting of shorts, running shoes and a white t-shirt with a pink jersey over it. She was escorted outside by Dr. Furosawa who watched as Uryuu got to training Yuki, although she was decidedly gentler than she would have been had Yuki been a boy, considering she was pregnant and while she was many things, she didn't want to add baby-killer to the list, born or not.

So she had her do a few pullups on the bars that were located on the exercise field that the hospital set up for when patients needed physical therapy and to bulk up their muscles to get them to a more healthy level.

After doing a few, they moved on to grip test, and when she couldn't squeeze any tighter, she checked and it read out at 460.

What followed next was a series of other tests, such as seeing how far while bending over she could stretch her arms and then how high she could stretch her arms while jumping. She would have done one to see how much weight she could lift, but Dr. Furosawa vetoed the idea.

After a few more hours of exercises, the doctor called it a day, much to Uryuu's annoyance, but all Haruhi had to do was look at her and she stopped grumbling as they packed it in.

It was as they were returning to the hospital that a number of security guards were hauling Kurou Amano out for the second time that day. But this time, a police car was waiting for him as they loaded him in.

They could hear them talking to him as they loaded him inside, "You know, when someone files a restraining order for a dad not to come near his own daughter, it raises some flags, but that you'd tear apart her room when you can't find her? That's just not right. And enough about that phone nonsense. What, were you trying to make sure she couldn't call for help, you sick bastard? Well not on my watch. We've got a nice prison cell reserved just for sickos like you."

Yuki looked at the man who had helped raise her with betrayed eyes as he screamed he wasn't going to rape her. Minene laid a hand on her arm and led her inside with Dr. Furosawa staying behind to talk to the guards about what happened in her patient's room.

"He was going to kill me?" she whispered brokenly as she sat on her bed.

Uryuu looked at her sadly, "The world sucks, kid, I know that better than anyone. But you can't let it keep you down."

* * *

POV Change: Yuto

The next day, Hana was sitting on her bed, curled up to Yuto as he ran his fingers through her hair. After taking her father away, she had actually fallen backwards in what should have been a fairly straightforward recovery. Resting his chin on her head, he allowed the silence to set in for a little while longer before breaking it.

"I overheard your dad while he was in your room the other day," he started. She stiffened in his arms. The knowledge her own father was trying to kill her, regardless of whether he knew the results of breaking her phone or not, was heartbreaking.

She shivered, "Can we not talk about this right now?"

He shook his head, "You need to hear this, Hana. He was talking to someone on the phone about getting his debt forgiven if he broke yours. I think it was Eleventh."

Yukihana turned her head, looking up at him with wide eyes, "You mean he knows who I am?"

Yuto smiled grimly, "With how many times you've been on the news lately it'd take an idiot not to make the connection. We know it's not Eighth. We were lucky that you had your Diary on you when you were out training or you wouldn't have a dad to worry about anymore."

The way he offhandedly spoke about murdering her father spoke of how little he cared for the man, but at this point she couldn't muster up even a token protest to his threatened killing.

Yuto turned on the news in an attempt to distract her. The anchorman was talking about the police investigating Mother's Home Orphanage, where the arsonists and attempted murderers Marco and Ai had grown up.

"Pretty impressive that they figured out where they grew up with so little information. Nishijima does his job well," his tone bright, trying to get her mind off her dad. It seemed to work, although what she said had his face go blank,

"It is, but that woman seems familiar. I know I've never met her, but she reminds me of someone."

The words drew up the forms of the remaining Diary users, and it was then that he recalled the shape of Eighth. He wasn't going to tell her that she was correct about remembering the woman, as right now really wasn't a good time for that. He wanted her to get better, not fall into depression.

They watched the news run, but then the phone on the wall sounded. "I have a call waiting at reception for a Yuto Gasai."

A short time later Yuto was picking up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Should have kept a closer eye on your woman, little man." It was Marco.

"If you hurt so much as a hair on her head," Yuto snarled.

Seventh 1st laughed, "Ooh, so scary. Sorry pipsqueak, but we call the shots now. We're waiting at Sakurami Tower. I hope you're ready for a man-to-man brawl, cause this time we aim to win."

Then the line went dead, and Yuto slammed the phone down angrily, scaring the receptionist.

It took almost no time at all for Yuto to get himself signed out and dressed before rushing off to the Tower. As it was due to be shut down in a couple months it was empty of any visitors.

His Diary said she was safe for the moment, but anything could happen while she was out of his sight, so he wasn't going to take any chances.

The elevator ride was uneventful, and when the doors opened, it was to a chapel with Marco, Ai, and Hana at the end, all dressed in white, although Hana's outfit was for a flower girl while Marco wore a wedding tuxedo and Ai a wedding dress with a bouquet of flowers in hand.

Hana was leaned up against the back wall behind Ai, her hands tied behind her back and her mouth taped shut. Her eyes widened when she saw him, trying to tell him something in her frantic attempts to free herself only to fall back exhausted, breathing heavily through her nose.

"Brave of you to show up. Respect."

As Yuto walked forward, and Marco moved in kind, both stopping at opposite ends of the pews.

"Of course I came, she's my wife and I won't let anyone hurt her and think they can get away with it."

Marco and Ai blinked, "Wait, you kids are married?" He shook his head and moved on. That was one subject he did NOT want to get into. "I've half a mind to stomp on the thing right now but that ain't our way." He whipped his jacket off and loosened his collar, "Come at me, Second. No tricks, no talk. I want to know if you're the type of guy to fight to save the woman he loves."

Eyes taking on a murderous glow, he charged, and it was sheer luck that kept Marco from evading the knife he pulled out at the last second.

"Shit! I forgot you had that!"

And it was then that he raced past Marco to leap at Ai, knife raised high in an obvious attempt to slice her from top to bottom.

"Ai, look out!"

She raised her bouquet in a feeble show of defense, only for Yuto to use the blade as a lever and rip it out of Ai's hands, sending it sailing into the air. He raised his hand to catch it and reached inside to grab Hana's phone before bouncing away.

He then took the liberty of checking Hana's Diary, and his eyes widened in panic. "We need to move, now!"*

Explosions rocked the building right after he said that.

Marco looked around in shock, "What the hell?"

The intercom sounded, and a masculine voice spoke up sounding incredibly smug, "Bad news, Marco. Time's up. I'm razing this puppy to the ground."

"Ta, you punk!"

"Them's the breaks, man. We're ahead of schedule. You can take it from here, though, right?" More explosions rocked the building, and Ai threw Hana into the air toward the middle of the room.

"You want your princess? Well go get her. We're out of here."

Yuto was so focused on Hana that he didn't even register the two anymore. Through sheer happenstance, the rope binding her hands came loose as she was thrown, allowing her to free herself and tear off the tape just in time for the floor underneath her to become unstable.

She looked up in fear as it collapsed, the world seeming to enter a state of slow motion as Yuto rushed toward her, trying to grab her outstretched hand as she cried out, "Yuto!"

* * *

A/N: For those wondering, considering the actions that Kurou took in the anime when he first met Ninth, I felt it was slightly fitting to write him like this. I know it probably rubs a fair amount of people the wrong way, but that's what I chose to do. And his actions upon meeting Yuki for the first time in a year went through my head like this: How many people hurt someone in the past and then act like nothing's wrong weeks, months or even years down the line just because they want something from them? Sure there are people who genuinely forget about past hurts they've caused, but that isn't what happened. Heck, Kurou did it in the anime too, acting like nothing was wrong, in fact, acting like he was doing his kid a favor by seeing him after he left. He even said "I hope he's happy to see his dad."

Alright, rant over.

Also for those wondering, Yuki has been pregnant 19 days, meaning she got knocked up on the 19th of June.


End file.
